Percy Jackson - The Beginning of a New End
by Ringmasterization
Summary: Having lost all his memories and with a new enemy on the wake, Percy starts killing all his friends and family, thereby bringing a whole new level of danger to thee lives of the demigods. (the memory thing is NOT RELATED TO HOO series AND SON)
1. Chapter 1

**Guys, this is my first story again but I'm deleting that story and reposting it. So here it goes.**

Chapter 1

It was deadly silent in the throne room of the gods as Luke lay on the floor with Kronos's evil essence slowly leaving him. Annabeth and Percy knelt by him and she was crying softly while Luke consoled her with all the leftover power he could muster,"Hey Annie, I'm sorry….. I broke my promise. But it's ok….. I knew what would happen ….. when I went down this road. I knew I would….. die. So don't worry… please stop crying."

Then as he turned to Percy, he said, now a bit slower," all the unclaimed… and ignored demigods in the Hermes cabin…..the reason for the war …. stop that from happening."

Percy nodded, speechless, but then all of a sudden, in a flash Luke's eyes changed to the harsh golden color of the Lord of Time and came out the voice of the titan king, Kronos," You may have defeated me this time Jackson, but I will not leave without destroying your life. You will now be immortal and live a worthless life without your family and friends."

And he extended his arm into Percy's face and entered it. Percy's eyes glazed over and they glowed a harsh golden color, even the white part before returning to their beautiful sea green color. Deep burns started coming on Percy's face, but Percy did not react, he just kept kneeling in that posture.

And then Luke's arm fell, the hero finally dead.

Annabeth could only watch, stunned, as Percy too fell down on his back.

Then she ran up to him and started shaking him violently," Seaweed Brain, wake up Seaweed Brain. You can't leave me just like that. Come on, Percy Jackson wake up."

And then came in the almighty Gods, who were also quite winded up after their fight with the monster king, Typhon, and didn't look that almighty, and behind them, the demigods.

But as soon as Poseidon and Hermes saw the scene and the 2 lying bodies, they ran up to their respective sons and started bawling their eyes out.

All the other gods could do was shoot looks of sympathy and pity and then go to their thrones and get lost in their own grief of losing their children.

Malcolm gingerly held Annabeth by the shoulder and said," He's gone Annabeth, he's gone. There's nothing you could do about it. Come, the gods are about to say something."

And Annabeth just let herself get led away as Percy and Luke lay on the cold ground with their father's hands around them.

Then Zeus called the meeting to order and said," All gods return to your thrones and all demigods gather in the middle of the room. We would like to give away rewards to certain heroes for their exceptional bravery in the battle." During this time, Poseidon and Hermes returned to their thrones, albeit with lot of hesitation." First would be my daughter, Thalia. Ask daughter, make your wish".

Thalia first bowed then said, "Father, I want the councils help in the refilling of the hunter ranks and all the dead hunters to be sent to Elysium.""And that's what shall be done, right Hades?"asked Zeus. "Ok, alright" said Hades after Artemis started glaring at him.

"Now will Grover, the satyr, please come up", said Dionysius. As Grover went up Dionysus kept on saying," He will now be made Lord of the Wild and an Honorary Olympian for his feat of searching out Pan and getting his blessing."

Grover fainted then and there and 2 nymphs carried him out.

Then Athena, the wisdom goddess called out," My daughter, Annabeth, Olympus has been, what mortals would say, trashed; and we would love it if somebody designed this great city for the posterity and eons to come. Will you …."

Suddenly everybody heard a groan as if somebody was just waking up and turned their heads to the source of the noise.

That somebody being Percy.

Poseidon immediately turned into the normal mortal size and ran up to his son and hugged him," Your alive, your alive, your alive…" Percy looked around very slowly and then fell unconcious once again as Annabeth too came and hugged him and half the demigod army surrounded them.

Then Apollo called out to," Everybody please move way from Percy, give him some space to breath. Move away. Let me check if he has any internal injuries."

And Apollo turned to mortal size and knelt near Percy as the others moved away,and using his specialty of being the god of medicine started moving his hands (which had a golden glow to them) over Percy in a strange manner and slightly frowning.

But when he looked at his face he gasped for from his nose was coming out a tricklet of blood. **_GOLDEN BLOOD._**

But he just said to everybody else," He's alright, just very exhausted. Let him rest for a day or two and he will be as good as new" in a fake cheerful voice."

Then Zeus said," As the son of Poseidon is unavailable at the moment, his reward will be given to him later."

And Zeus snapped his fingers, transporting Percy to the infirmary. "I hereby claim Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena as the Hero and Heroine of Olympus. Also, Annabeth Chase will get her reward in the celebrations that will take place tonight when everybody has rested."

**After some time, in the Olympian Infirmary**

Apollo was sitting near Percy, examining him like a test subject of the utmost importance.

Poseidon was standing near him, with impatience and worry etched on his face.

It was the same for a few more minutes, after which Apollo said," I don't know how but somehow Percy has become a full-fledged immortal. He has no injuries whatsoever which is quite surprising seeing the amount of fighting he did but in his present condition he should be up and running. But he isn't waking up, and my best guess is that Kronos has put a spell on him, putting him into a comatose from which his return is highly improbable."

Poseidon didn't say anything for a few more minutes but then his expression turned to that of anger and he said in a threatening voice to Apollo," I don't care what you do but I want my son back. You're the medicine god, so you better do something and do something quick."

But a tear from his eye betrayed his true emotions as the sea god disappeared in water vapor and sea mist.

Apollo shook his head as he knew Poseidon wasn't in the right state of mind and didn't mean what he said.

But then, taking into account his unpredictability, one never knew what he meant.

However, more important things were roaming about in Apollo's mind like whether he should tell Poseidon the other important thing.

That Percy's mind was simply empty with only a few pieces of memory about which he couldn't find out.

Any emotions or feelings he felt for anybody or anything were not there, like it never had been there.

Percy had also been inspected by Hecate, the goddess of magic and so Apollo knew he was not incorrect.

Percy had become a zombie, a even then, these were all assumptions and nobody knew what had happened to him.

He should at least consult Athena as she might know a way to cure the prince of the sea. He would ask her tomorrow when he would call an emergency council meeting to discuss the Percy Jackson dilemma.

**Line Breaker**

Annabeth was an emotional wreck.

It had been 3 hours since their victory and Luke's demise. And what about Percy? Nobody seemed to know. All she knew was that Percy was in Apollo's personal care in the Olympian Infirmary.

She remembered the way Percy fell, the way Luke, no Kronos, was the one who almost destroyed her life's love.

Yes, she finally accepted it. Accepted that she loved Percy and had done so from the first time she had met him. Her feelings had developed from a tiny crush to this level where she almost became worried, tensed and depressed if she didn't get to be near her Seaweed Brain.

Anyway she decided to go out of her room and look around Olympus a little so as to get a breather.

She saw the different ruins of the temples of the gods – both major and minor. The different shops on Olympus and the natural beauty made her wonder how Olympus must have looked in its full grandeur and she started thinking about the offer by her mother about rebuilding Olympus however she wanted. She knew that the rebuilding would take at least 30-40 years as Olympus was huge and that would take up almost all of her life.

She kept on walking, meeting many god-lings and the general populous, mortals who have been blessed by the Olympians to live on Olympus, who recognized and acknowledged her as the Heroine of Olympus.

Her wandering in the now ruined city quickly made up to her free time and she would have missed the procession had Artemis not chanced to see the lost daughter of Athena and tried to take her in the hunt once again.

Anyways, when she reached at the elevator doors, from where the procession would start, she joined the first 5 rows of the procession that consisted of the demigods who had fought, followed by the minor gods who had remained on the side of the Gods, and then came the deadly ranks of the Hunter's, one of the most dangerous groups of the Olympian Army followed by 5 rows of the undead to represent Hades and then followed by the nymphs, the simple immortals and at last the general populous, which were just the audience.

The procession started from the doors of the elevator to the throne room, in which sat the Olympians in all their glory, though Hermes were not happy as the death of his child's death was being celebrated, but he was understanding enough to not ruin the celebration for others by having a crying session and having a frown plastered on his face.

As the procession reached the throne room they were welcomed by the gods and then Zeus stood up and announced," Because of the sacrifices of some we are alive even now and are strong enough to defend our home from anybody who dares to attack us."  
>A random demigod shouted," Hail the Gods" and they kept cheering until Dionysus, the party god led them to a side of the room which was big enough to hold a party hosted by him.<p>

As the celebrations were going on, Hades came to Apollo and asked him," Don't tell anybody that I asked but how is Perseus' health? I can feel that his life force is already strong enough for him to be up and in this party. But i haven't seen him from the starting of the procession and started wondering if something was wrong."  
>Apollo though surprised at first, smirked and then said," I assure you, he is very much alive but in a deep comatose due to, what I assume, a spell put onto him by Kronos when his essence was returning to Tartarus."<p>

"I think you should discuss your queries with that Athena spawn, Annabeth. She was there at the time and might have a clue as to what actually happened." suggested Hades.  
>"I might do just that." said Apollo. "But right now I need to go check up on Percy." and before the god of the underworld could respond, Apollo was gone in a bright flash of golden light.<p>

**In the Celebration Party**

Dionysus was having the time of his life. Today was a day he could drink and he was going to utilize this opportunity to its fullest.

He was also spending time with this beautiful nymph that was just leaning against the wall and was trying to be discreet about it but his godlike vision quickly caught on to her.  
>And so began the flirting, of course, his father wasn't to know anything about it or the repercussions might be severe.<p>

He didn't care if that Annabell rebuilt the whole of Olympus;he just wanted more wine. But even then he decided to listen in to what was happening on the stage,"... and so I once again offer my daughter the chance to become the Official Architect of Olympus.""I accept"said Annabell.  
>"I would also like to ask for something else." Huh, that was strange! What else can she want? thought Dionysus."My best friend, Percy Jackson, was going to be offered a reward but on his behalf i would like to ask for a wish from the council. I.."<p>

"What are you saying? You won't get anything at all."shouted Zeus.

"Just hear me out, my lord. I do not ask anything for myself. I just want to avoid this kind of war from ever happening again and the main reason was because of the neglect the demigods faced from all gods. So i want the whole council to swear on the River Styx that from now on all children will be claimed - whether of a minor god or major god - by the age of 13 and be bought safely to camp. And also that cabins should be built for all the minor gods too. And even Hades should have a place at camp with a cabin in his honour."  
>"Are you calling me a minor god"thundered Hades."No, no my lord. What I'm saying is that your children too deserve a place at camp,something that Nico has already proved."squeaked Annabell.<p>

Everyone then looked towards Zeus who had a thoughtful look on his face for a few minutes after which he said," So be it. On behalf of the council, I, Zeus, King of the Gods, swear on the River Styx to have all children claimed by the age of 13 and to be bought to camp safely. Also all the cabins are to be built and designed by the architect of Olympus itself."

Everybody cheered and Dionysus had had it! Already he was serving a sentence and wasn't allowed to have wine till that time period came to an end. He was the wine god for god's sake but was banished from his own domain. Humph! He had to spend a century at that blasted camp with those no-gooders.  
>But, after so many years, he had grown attached to those little brats and understood the pain that the other gods felt when they lost a child as the war had consumed one of his own.<br>He was a little worried for that sea spawn, what-was-his-name?; oh right - Peter Johnson.  
>After all, that demigod was the reason for this party but was himself not present.<br>But, anyway, tonight was his night and he would make this one count.

Suddenly the music stopped. Everybody was confused and so was Dionysus. He started getting angry that the one time he was enjoying himself somebody interrupted that. And by the looks of it that somebody was Apollo.

So the god of madness shouted," Start the music again, you blasted sun god. Let me enjoy my time just this once. Just because music is one of your domains, it doesn't mean you can switch it off whenever you want and make others suffer. Start the music."(The god was drunk and so wasn't in the least, aware of what he was saying).

Everybody tensed at those words as they expected a brawl between the 2 half-brothers but it wasn't to be as Apollo said something that was hardly audible.  
>So, Artemis shouted at her younger twin," If you want to say something important then be done with it otherwise just continue the party" (she too was drunk very heavily as well as many other gods).<p>

So Apollo shouted the 4 words that shocked everybody to the core," Perseus Jackson is missing."

**Please Review and tell me how i have done I would appreciate any comments.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Percy's eyes fluttered open, but very slowly. He couldn't see much as it was quite dark.  
>He couldn't remember how he came in this place or why he had a huge pounding in his head.<p>

He remained disgruntled for a few moments more and didn't realize where he was until now. He slowly got up from his bed and stood up only to stumble and fall down on his knees.

But he kept on trying and after some tries he was successful and could stand up properly.

And then he looked around the room in a scrutinizing way and saw a bunch of weapons lying on the couch.  
>He went there and picked up the first sword that came into his hand by the sharp edge and then adjusted the sword to hold the grip tightly. He had got a deep cut in his hand due to holding the sharp blade, but it was like he didn't feel anything, and if he did, he didn't react at all. And then he just walked out of the door.<p>

Only to come face to face with a nymph. The nymph started saying something and jumping on her toes. Percy couldn't hear anything. He didn't know the nymph but her actions were irritating him and before the nymph could react, he stabbed her with the sword.

And that was it. He then walked away, but very slowly, like nothing had happened, leaving the nymph to die.  
>He heard a lot of noises coming from some big room to his side. He turned his head and stood in that position for a few more minutes, listening to the noises and thinking of the amount of people in the room in that direction and the amount of killing he could do and he had a sudden want to go there and butcher every last living being, before he got distracted by a blessed mortal who ran into him.<p>

The mortal apologized and turned around to go the other way when Percy slashed at his back making a straight wound.  
>The mortal screamed and fell. Then he got and looked up at the emotionless face of the Hero of Olympus, got up and ran away in the direction of the elevator doors, continuously tripping himself in the hurry.<p>

Percy just walked slowly and followed the mortal, having forgotten the noises already.

**In the Celebration Party**

Everybody was stunned; the biggest gasp coming from Annabeth who just fainted then and there. Everybody just stood where they were and then, like a glass had been broken shaking them out from their stupor, they started shouting.

Until Hades shouted, taking control of the situation," Quiet" (surprising right?).And then there was silence.  
>"Carry the Athena spawn to the infirmary and make sure she's fine. She knows what happened to Perseus Jackson and we need that information. Nemesis and Hebe shall lead all the other minor gods, demigods and Hunters to their respective quarters while all the Olympians shall return to their thrones at this instant. We shall have an emergency council meeting."<p>

Everybody stood in their places, frozen until Poseidon shouted," Go" shaking the very foundations of the already ruined Olympus.

**After a few minutes**

"But how is it possible, Apollo said that Barnacle Beard's son was all tired and exhausted and would get better after a day or two." pointed out Ares.

"Somebody must have kidnapped him" deduced Hermes.  
>"Lets not jump to conclusions" said Artemis.<p>

"Artemis is right" said Apollo, who is also the god of prophecy."Anyways I have to tell the council something."Apollo waited for any interruptions, when there were none, he continued," When I first checked up on Percy in the throne room just after the battle was over, I saw that there were a few drops of golden blood coming out of his nose, signaling that he was somehow immortal."

"Why didn't you tell us this before, and how did Percy become immortal?" asked Zeus, with narrowed eyes.

"I didn't want to give everybody the added stress." said Apollo, defending himself. "So I lied. Then when I checked him in the infirmary properly, I saw that he was completely alright and should have been awake. But he wasn't. I told Poseidon of my suspicions; that while Kronos' essence was returning to Tartarus, he used up the last of his energy to put Percy in a deep comatose and make him immortal. Percy could only wake up by himself, and we never know when that will happen, it could be only after a few hours, or some months, maybe years, or sadly, never."

"But how can father make somebody immortal just like that?" whined Zeus, "I am the king of the gods, not him."

"But in fact, he can brother" murmured Hestia, but everybody could hear her.

"What do you mean?" asked Dionysus.

Ignoring Dionysus, Hestia continued, "If you have forgotten, our father was the Titan king, so he too had the power to bestow immortality on anybody, and only he himself could reverse that spell."  
>Hestia was hardly ever wrong and everybody liked her so everybody used to listen to her and Zeus was no exception. He loved his sister dearly and would never rebuke her.<p>

And even though he was going to offer godhood to Percy as a reward, it still irked him that things could go out of his control and he couldn't do anything about it.

"So Hermes is right, he must have been kidnapped." Said Dionysus.

"Or he must have woken up from his coma and is now roaming about on Olympus." said Demeter.

"Then he should have been found by somebody up till now." said Athena.

"Anywaaays, when I went to check up on him during the party, he was missing. I tried to trace his energy signal, now that he is immortal, but with so many immortals in one place, I couldn't do it." Said Apollo dejectedly.

"Maybe, Poseidon can try, after all Percy is his son." said Hades.  
>Poseidon nodded and had a look of concentration on his face for a moment, before he shook his head and said," No, nothing, I couldn't find him, not on Olympus anyway."<p>

"I have heard that the now Lord of the Wild, that satyr – Grover, has an empathy link with your son." Maybe we can ask him to try to connect with Percy." said Artemis.

"What if he just found a girl and is now having the time of his life?" (guess who said this).  
>"My son is not like that." said Poseidon, in a sad voice."Maybe, when that Chase girl wakes up, we can ask her about what actually happened."<p>

"So to sum everything up, Kronos is gone, making Percy immortal in his last act and now Percy is missing? Sounds fishy to me." said Hermes.

"One more thing" said Apollo," He does not have a memory anymore, there are only bits and pieces of which I can't decipher anything and so can't Hecate. So if anybody is thinking that Percy is now on the dark side, well, think again."

"Doesn't that mean that now Percy is on nobody's side?" said Demeter.

Everybody fell into deep thought as they all cared for Percy in one way or another and their respect for him had only increased after he defeated Kronos with little help.

Then Hera, Queen of the Heavens, started addressing the council, as her husband was still angry about how somebody could become immortal without his consent," Then we have 2 options; either we let Percy roam free or we search for him and get him back. All those who want to get him back, raise your hands."

Suddenly the doors opened and in came Eris, minor goddess of discord and strife, who bowed and then said, in a neutral voice," My Lords and Ladies, a nymph was found dead in front of the entrance to the infirmary. She (the nymph) was stabbed in the stomach with, what we suspect is, a sword. We also have reason to suspect that this death may be related to the disappearance of Perseus Jackson."

At that moment, a Horae* came in, bowed and said," A blessed mortal was found dead and bound by ropes on the pillars of Olympus. He has a long wound on his back and his head is in the pool of Olympus nearby, separate from his body."

After hearing that the whole meeting was in chaos and Eris smirked, obviously liking the discord between the Olympians and just enjoying the whole scene. Some god was shouting that Percy was now a zombie, someone said he was the savior of Olympus and it all continued till Zeus banged his Master bolt on the floor and sparks flew, bringing order to the meeting.

"So it is decided, we all search for Perseus" said Hera, though it was kinda obvious, so everybody ignored her.

"Hearing all that has been said, I say that a murderer is on the loose and he is Perseus Jackson. We need to hunt him down. NOW!" shouted Artemis.

"It can't be Percy. It just can't. He would never kill an innocent person." Said Poseidon.

"Uncle Poseidon, as much as I hate to admit it, Percy just isn't himself anymore, and he wouldn't know anything he is doing." said Apollo.  
>"He <em>has<em> become a zombie, a monster and nobody is safe near him. Not even the ones he loves. If you were to go in front of him in his current state, he would have no hesitation in attacking you and trying to kill you.  
>And he is immortal now, so even we can't do anything to him."<p>

Poseidon's only response was a sigh and a nod.

Zeus then said," Artemis, my daughter, if there is a murderer then you shall start the hunting, immediately after this meeting. And be on the lookout for Perseus Jackson, we cannot rule out any possibilities about his current whereabouts.  
>And Athena, you shall start searching for a cure along with Apollo and Hecate, if not for his immortality then, for his memory loss. He is a powerful demigod and I do not want to lose somebody like him." admitted Zeus."Is there anything else anybody wants to add?"<p>

As nobody said anything Zeus said," Meeting dismissed" and disappeared in a small flash of lightning, not interested in any theatrics today.

All the gods also disappeared except Poseidon who called out to Artemis and said," I know that you hate people of the opposite sex but this is a onetime request from my side – please don't let any harm befall my boy. I love him from the core of my heart and have no shame in saying that. Please, I beg you."

Artemis took a deep breath and after releasing that she said," Don't worry, uncle. I will try my best to protect Perseus."

"Thank you, niece. This is all I can ask." said Poseidon and then he disappeared in water droplets and sea mist.

**Line Breaker**

After ending the life of the blessed mortal, Percy came down to the ground floor of the Empire State Building by the elevator and walked out, but as always, very slowly.

The guard who was always posted outside the building, and had the passkey for the elevator, had just woken up from the slumber that Morpheus had put the citizens of Manhattan to. He was conversing with Sally Jackson, Percy's mother and Paul Blowfish, who were both waiting for the blue light to flash above the building, which would tell them that the war was over and that Percy was alright.

And when they all saw Percy walk out of the building, they were all confused at seeing a boy walk out of the building with a sword in his hand. And when they saw his burned face they recoiled back in sympathy for the teen. But when Sally saw the eye's of the boy, she knew who it was instantly and Sally ran towards her son and hugged him and kissed him on the head and cheeks and nose, not caring about the burns, and shedding tears of joy."Oh my god, your alive, your alive."

But when she didn't get any response or a hug in return, she looked at him and asked," Are you alright, how did this happen to your face?"  
>Paul Blowfish, then came up to them and said," He must be tired Sally, after all your son is coming out alive of a war, that in itself is a feat."<p>

Percy, in the meantime, was getting irritated by these people.  
>And one of them was a strange woman who was hugging him and kissing him. And Percy didn't like that.<p>

So when the man came near him he pushed the woman and freed himself from the woman's arms and slashed at the chest of the man, who screamed loudly and fell to the ground, his shirt being stained by the increasing amount of thick red blood coming out of the fatal wound.

When Sally realized what had just taken place, at first she was speechless and stunned, not believing anything and then came the loud scream," Oh my god, what have you done, Percy? What have you done? You killed him, you killed Paul...".

Percy was really on the edge, seeing the woman scream so he took a wild swing and sliced at the woman's throat and a spray of blood blasted into his face. Sally made a few choking motions clutching her wound and staring at Percy, her eye's filled with surprise.

The woman, who gave birth to Percy, sacrificed her dreams, her goals, her ambition, her whole life just so he could live in peace, who lived with a man like Gabe for so many years just to protect Percy and save him from monsters, who suffered years of abuse and torture; both verbal and physical, Percy killed her with just one slice and no emotion. He killed her as if he didn't know her at all.

The guard who had seen everything peed in his pants and stared at the bodies of Sally and Paul and kept muttering," He killed them, he killed them both with a sword."

One look at Percy and he started running away only to trip himself and fall down. Percy ran up to him with his sword held high and swung at the mans head.  
>The guard was dead instantly.<p>

He then took out his sword from the carcass and then walked out of the building and into the world, having killed 5 people in less than an hour...

**Don't forget to review and criticize or praise me about my work.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, here's the third chapter.****  
><strong>**Don't forget to R&R.  
><strong>**_**

Chiron was in the van, which was speeding up to Camp Half-Blood, the only safe haven for demigods on Earth. (**A.N = For now, let's consider that he is not thinking of Camp Jupiter and is concerned only with the Greek demigods**)

Chiron should have been happy that they had won the war but the way that the whole situation had taken a drastic turn was too much for him to take in after such a grueling battle.

Two of his best demigods were gone – one in the Olympian Infirmary healing, the other ….. Chiron shuddered at the thought of what had happened to Percy.

He had the worst luck ever, maybe worse than all previous demigods like Achilles or Heracles. He had to go on four quests and fight in the Titan War, all in just four years, from the age of 12. He had to lift the weight of the world literally and figuratively.

He had fought titans, gods and countless monsters but always had the innocence that Chiron had first seen in him at the age of 12. The Fates really had it all out for him.

When Percy was found, IF he was found, Chiron would send Percy to a long vacation to some place which was monster-free, but the problem was that the boy couldn't stay out of trouble for long, even if he wanted to.

But then there was this other problem, Percy's mother. Her body had been discovered along with that of Paul Blowfish and the security guard that carried the pass key to Olympus.

They had all been discovered stabbed to death and the death of so many people including the blessed mortal and the nymph was unnerving him.

Poseidon had broken down and fell down on the ground, his mortal family completely destroyed. He had flashed back to someplace and since then the seas had been completely still.

Even man-made structures like fountains had stagnant water and the aquatic life all over the world was suffering.

After all, it's no everyday that someone would kill two living beings in the palace of Olympus and escape all the security, with no one catching even a glimpse of this killer.

All this had led Chiron to one question – Was Olympus really safe anymore? After all, the defeat of Kronos, disappearance of Percy and these mind-boggling series of murders couldn't be all just a coincidence, could it?

Had there not been this other option which Chiron absolutely refused to consider, he would be so proud to admit that Percy had been his favorite student, so humble, so modest, so kind, so loyal, so…,"Hey Chiron, we have reached camp. Let's get off." said Nico, the son of Hades.

Chiron nodded and then got off the van and walked into the camp.

Nobody in question was happy, as everybody liked or loved Percy in some way or the other, and they were all nervous about the murders that had occurred.

Percy interacted with everybody; young or old, small or big. He was the one that everyone looked up to. And now, that same role model was gone.

But Nico knew better, for he had reached his own conclusions, conclusions which all evidence seemed to point to, but towards which everybody remained ignorant.

But he didn't tell all his to anyone as it was obvious his father would have reached these conclusions by now and he wouldn't want such a fact to spread among the demigods, it would create panic and they would all force themselves to look after Percy when there were other more important things that needed a lot of attention.

Chiron saw the camp and shook his head in sadness, the camp was dirty and some parts were even in ruins as there had hardly been anytime between the Battle of the Labyrinth and the Titan War, to repair camp.

And the extra time was utilized by everybody for training and building armor. But he knew that the demigods would make this a camp again in no time.

But then he thought, could things return to what they used to be before the war? Only time could answer that question.

He went to the big house; his head hung down, opened the door and an arrow flew just above his face and out in the open.

The nymphs had been taking care of the young demigods and along with them, had been planning to attack anybody who entered the big house from the Titan army as they hadn't got an IM from Chiron of any news from the war, so they had had assumed the worst.

Of course, they didn't tell that to the young ones, they cooked up some excuse and the underage demigods believed it all.

So when they saw that it was Chiron who was the entrant, with shock all over his wrinkled face, there was silence.

Chiron was lucky he was sad because if he wasn't, the arrow would have been stuck in the head of the trainer of heroes.

And then all nymphs ran and swarmed around Chiron, hugging and kissing him all over, because they now knew that the war had been won and from now on there would be peace.

They asked many questions as to what all happened and how did it all go but Chiron froze when he heard the question," Did anybody die?"

He again looked down, remembering Percy, and told the nymphs to take all the demigods to their respective cabins and to leave him alone. He looked so sad that the nymphs followed his orders without any argument.

**In the Olympian Infirmary**

Annabeth slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the face of a nymph whose nose was almost touching hers. So she screamed and pushed at the nymph who fell back.

By the time she got up Annabeth was gone. And the nymph sighed and murmured," That was really a brilliant plan by Athena, making her daughter go straight towards the Throne Room just as she woke up, just like Lord Zeus offered."

Annabeth was running and so was her thought process. She kept asking herself questions like Wasn't the Titan War over? and Hadn't they won? and Where the hell were all the other demigods? She came upon the Throne Room, pushed open the huge doors and ran in.

Only to come upon an entirely empty throne room with no gods. Annabeth looked around the ruins and thought that the victory was just a figment of her imagination and that they had truly lost. If so, where was Kronos?

"Annabeth, Annabeth, what are you looking at?" a voice called out. Annabeth could hear somebody call her name but she was so lost in her thoughts she didn't bother to respond. And there was this sudden feeling of warmth near her chest and it kept getting hotter.

The temperature kept on increasing till it became painful and then she was literally shaken out of her thoughts by an 8 year old goddess of the hearth. "Annabeth, what are you thinking about so much? I kept a fire burning in front of your body but it's like you didn't realize it at all. See for yourself, your clothes are also slightly burnt."

Annabeth didn't bother to look at her clothes and didn't even hide the look of surprise that came upon her face. "How are you still here? And where is Kronos? We need to escape right now before the titans find us here. Maybe we can go from that direction or maybe from that one…." Annabeth started rambling.

Until Hestia decided to interrupt," ANNABETH, WE WON. THE WAR IS OVER. THE PATHENON OF THE GODS STILL LIVES."

"Then where is everybody else? And why is there no party for our victory? And where are the other demigods?" Annabeth started asking questions in rapid fire.

Hestia kept quiet till Annabeth got tired of asking and then slightly touched the Annabeth's temple with her index finger. And Annabeth's head got filled with memories and she had a slight moment of dizziness and nausea.

Then she remembered everything and started crying. Hestia knew the reason why so she just led her to the hearth and sat down, putting Annabeth's head in her lap and running her hand in her hair.

Then she said," My dear, I know it's hard to deal with the loss of such a close friend but you have to be strong, not just for yourself but also the demigods that will now look up to you for inspiration, support and motivation. They need somebody who can help them get over the loss of somebody very close to them and it's your duty to do so."

But Annabeth contradicted her saying," How can I be a role model when I myself need help? When I am myself so broken by recent events."

Then Hestia said," Being a leader doesn't mean being devoid of any emotion and being perfect. Being a leader means keeping your own pain at bay and keeping on a smiling face so as to show that there is always hope. Why do you think Percy always smiled even in the most hopeless of situations? He always knew that he may never live the next moment so he gave others the hope that everything could still be alright and shouldered other's responsibility on himself. Sometimes, the heart and its emotions are much wiser than the brain."

With this new dawn of knowledge on her she asked," And what about my emotions for Percy? I finally realized my true feelings for him but by then it was too late. I am such an idiot."

Hestia wasn't much surprised to say the least as she had always known of the budding romance between Percy and Annabeth. So she said," There is nothing you could have done. Think of it this way; he gave up his life so that you could lead a safe, successful and happy life. He did it because he too loved you just as much as you do."

"How can you say that? He had so many girls running after him, even a few goddesses. Why on earth would he want to be with me?" asked Annabeth, not believing a word of Hestia.

"Because that's what love is, my dear. For him, you were the only one that mattered. He had started to consider his feelings for you as more than just friends ever since you and he returned after your first quest together." Said Hestia, in a voice so full of conviction and sweetness and warmth that all Annabeth wanted to do was stay in that position for all day.

But Annabeth still asked," How do you know all this? You are not the goddess of love, how can you be so sure?" Hestia chuckled and said," I don't just sit here and keep the hearths burning. I am the one goddess who knows almost every secret of Olympus, as almost all gods both major and minor, especially my brother Poseidon, confide in me their hearts deepest thoughts that they dare not tell anyone else. This is because I have earned the trust of everybody and would never be a gossip girl who tells all secrets just to gain popularity, like the actual goddess of love."

Annabeth just smiled because she was now certain that her secret would always remain just that – a secret.

**Line Breaker**

Percy was walking the streets of Manhattan, New York and the city was slowly coming to life. Many were starting to wake up and were confused as to why they were passed out in shops and buildings and parks, etc. While some were still sleeping!

A gang of rowdy teenagers, who had seized the opportunity and were pickpocketing the still groggy citizens, came upon Percy who was just walking through the city, not killing anyone as a voice in his head kept telling him to not waste any time and that the people lying around were already dead.

When the teenagers saw Percy, who appeared a bit blurred to them, the leader, who was quite muscled and tall, grinned and raised his hand and they all stopped.

He flinched slightly when he saw the burnt face of Percy but kept a strong face and waited for him to come in front of them and stop.

None of them could see the sword as the mist was affecting them and they all thought it was just a pen. **(A.N = the weapon in Percy's hand is not Riptide but something else. It is just the mist affecting mortals! Can you guess what the actual weapon is? The first one to tell me the answer gets a virtual cookie.)**

But Percy kept walking without even glancing towards the group, and they all felt like idiots. So they all took out their weapons which ranged from baseball bats to knifes to just their fists. The leader called out to Percy but got no response.

The other group members looked strangely at both Percy and then their leader, and the leader, who called himself, Al, got a nervous look on his face as this show of blatant ignorance from the boy would lead to his loss of importance and respect in the group.

So Al ran towards Percy and tackled him to the ground, thereby unknowingly dooming them all. Percy just got up and ever so slowly turned around.

Al stared in the emotionless eyes of Percy and could see his own eyes in them – eyes filled with surprise and fear.

Percy got angry that somebody dared to attack him but was also happy as he now got to kill somebody. And so Percy swung his sword at the mortal.

At the last moment, Al saw the pen change into a sword and so he ducked on instinct. He then knew that there was something strange going on and it would be better to just back off.

So Al, raised his hands and said," Hey homie, I'm sorry man, I'm sorry. You can take that big sword and just go on your way. I will just run away and find a place to pee."

But Percy wasn't listening, at all. He slightly tilted his head and looked behind the man to see… nobody! Percy couldn't see the other people that had come too. Maybe they had all run away.

At least he had only one man to kill. Oh well, something is always better than nothing.  
>Al, seeing that the boy was looking behind, turned around to see that all his "friends" had deserted him and run away.<p>

So he turned around to apologize and make a quick getaway when he got kicked hard in the gut and he crashed in the nearby wall, his knife clattering in the distance.

Percy seeing that the mortal was distracted knew it was the perfect chance to attack. So, when the mortal turned around to face him, Percy kicked him in the gut with all his power and watched in satisfaction as the man crashed in the wall nearby, and crumpled to the ground.

Al was now in a lot of pain, but that all faded as the only emotion that came on the surface was anger.

He got up and rushed towards the teenager with his fists balled and raised. The only thing he wanted to do was beat down this arrogant son of a bitch within an inch of his life.

Because one might call Al anything, but he was a very good fighter who grew up on the streets and so knew his way around.

And now that he had already seen the sword, the mist wasn't trying to trick him anymore. He could see Percy properly and he threw his first punch.

Percy saw the man coming but didn't and just stood there, taking it all. Al felt like he was punching an iron wall, but he kept going on, his anger and the adrenalin rush feeding him on, making him oblivious to the bleeding knuckles.

Percy had the curse of Achilles on him, so of course he didn't feel anything. When Al got tired, he gasped and asked," What are you? None of my punches seem to even faze you."

Percy just grinned a maniacal grin and backhanded the mortal, and Al crashed into the wall again. Then Percy ran towards the fallen man and slashed at him. Al rolled out of the way and the sword got stuck in the ground. So Al roundhouse kicked Percy in the head with as much power as he could surge from inside of him.

But Percy just stood there, having no reaction at all and just trying to pull out the stuck sword. Al kept kicking him and in the end it was his leg that was bruised and bleeding.

Then Percy finally pulled the sword out free, and swung sideways immediately. Al, barely dodged the otherwise fatal shot, but the work was done.

Al could never see the other attack coming and by the time he realized it, it was too late. His hand was severed of his body and there was blood spurting all over the place. Al screamed in pain," You monster. Aaaahhhhhhh."

Percy then cut off the other hand and Al, who knew that all hope was lost, attempted to head butt Percy but ended up busting himself open and falling to the ground. There was blood all over his face and he was blinded by it.

Al couldn't even get up as he had no hands, they were lying around somewhere. So he kept screaming in pain, shouting for help and obscenities at the teenager, who had rendered him blind and handless.

Percy, seeing so much blood, left Al lying on the ground, not because he got sick but because he knew that Al would eventually die of blood loss. So he continued on his way, this time with a destination that the voice in his head told him, where he would be sure to get some good competition and the pleasure of this particular hunt would be excruciatingly fun.

And so Percy walked on to Camp Half-Blood.

**The Underworld**

Hades was personally judging all the people who had died that day as there were many heroes who deserved Elysium and many who deserved the Fields of Punishments.

When he saw Sally Jackson and Paul Blowfish, he got off the table and went to talk to them. When they saw him, they bowed to him. Hades waved that off and personally led them to Elysium. While walking he asked them," This may seem like a bit too quick and rude, but I really have to ask, who killed you?"

At first he didn't get any response, but suddenly Sally stopped and looked at Hades with what was a happy expression on her face. She then said," My Lord, I feel that my life is blessed. My true happiness began when I looked at the beautiful sea green eyes of Poseidon and it all ended when I looked in the equally beautiful eyes of my son, Percy."

Hades couldn't believe what he had heard," Are you sure, Sally? You're saying that your son Percy killed you himself."

Sally then recounted her whole experience and said," Even though his face was burnt very badly, I can never forget those eyes. Those beautiful sea green eyes of his have always had a charm of their own. Yes, I'm very sure that I was killed by my own son and not some monster or complete stranger. Now I can say that my life is complete."

Hades felt very sad hearing this, since a great mortal had died, but he had to report this newest development to Olympus. So he dropped the souls of Sally and Paul at Elysium, Iris Messaged Nico to come quickly to the Underworld and then Hades teleported to his personal quarters to think about everything that had happened so far.

But one thing was sure; if he was right then Olympus wasn't safe anymore; instead it had just traded one dangerous enemy for another, someone who could completely destroy Greek Mythology.

**Somewhere in Tartarus – Unknown POV**

"Ahhh, my power. Finally, the signal of Kronos comes. It's quite faint but it's there alright. Now all I have to do is climb out of Tartarus and merge with whoever has inherited my power, while my present host will kill all those arrogant demigods.

Then I will be in my complete form and then no one, not even the mighty Olympians will be able to stop me from completing my original mission - erasing those petty gods from existence itself and forcing each one of them to fade forever. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

**And here it is the third chapter. Will Percy really kill all the demigods that he worked so hard to save? And who is this voice that commands him what to do and what not to? And what role does this entity in Tartarus play in the act? Keep reading – and reviewing – to find out more.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Anyways, this is the fourth chapter of my story. Read on!**

**In Athena's Great Library**

Athena was in her great library, searching for something, anything which might give her a clue as to what had happened to Perseus, but to no avail.

This was one of the few times that some situation had the wisdom goddess stumped. She burrowed her eyebrows in sheer anger and irritation when there was a flash near her and the King of the Seas appeared.

"Well, well, well. This is a surprise. Hello Uncle Poseidon, what brings you here to my library? Do you wish to read something? mocked Athena.

Poseidon was silent for the next few moments, his face emotionless, after which he replied," If I wanted to read something, the Atlantean Library is suited enough to my needs. But let's skip the formalities of insulting each other and get straight to the point. Has your daughter awoken?

Athena was shocked by the straightforwardness of Poseidon and that he didn't want to argue with her, but seeing that he was quite saddened by the death of his wife, Sally and the disappearance of his son, Percy, she decided not to tease him, for now.

So she shrugged and said," Maybe, I don't know. In fact, I need to go and check upon her. After all, she is the one who knows what really happened to Perseus. And also, Poseidon, I am sorry about Sally's death. From what everybody says, I gather that she was a wonderful woman and was the reason for Perseus' good upbringing and the qualities that he now has in his personality. You have my condolences."

Poseidon just nodded and then asked," And did you find out anything as to how Percy lost his memory and has now disappeared?"

Athena then said in a frustrated voice," There is nothing here. No book which can tell me if there were methods of making someone forget who they are and then become someone else entirely. As much as I hate to say this, I didn't find anything at all. There is just no plausible explanation and we already know that becoming immortal doesn't harm anybody either physically or mentally." Athena closed her eyes and sighed.

"WHAT! YOU ARE THE WISDOM GODDESS FOR ZEUS' SAKE! HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT SOMETHING? HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPID!" shouted Poseidon in a voice that shook Olympus, once again, and surely everyone would have heard him shouting at Athena.

Athena was shaken up and frozen right in her place, staring at Poseidon with fear in her eyes. Poseidon knew then and there that he had crossed a line by shouting at her for no reason.

So, Poseidon said grudgingly," I'm … sorry. If you like, we can go to the Atlantean Library. It contains books of many historical secrets and spells from the time of the Primordial Beings that might help you. My assistants are searching for a solution as hard as they can but none of them possess the intellect that you do." acknowledged Poseidon.

Athena was shocked again! It was the first time Poseidon was admitting that Athena was smart. Today was really a day of exceptions. But instead she sneered and said," And why would I go to some rag-tag library when I can search for answers in my own library. Your library must be as big as a broom closet."

Poseidon was keeping his anger in check; he was trying to be kind but it was not as easy as he thought it would be. "Athena, I'm trying to offer a hand of friendship, so that we can dissolve our millennia old rivalry. I accept that the people of Athens chose you. But what's done is done. Let bygones be bygones. I want to start afresh."

Athena was amazed. It was not every day that one of the big three put their pride down and admitted that someone was better than them. And Poseidon saying something smart! So Athena said," I guess it must be really difficult for you, putting your pride down and apologizing. And your right – there's no harm in dissolving our rivalry and starting anew."

Poseidon put his hand forward and Athena shook it and then asked," Does your library really have books containing information since the time of the Primordial Beings? And does father know about it?"

"Yes, there are quite a number of books like that. I have no reason to lie to you now, do I? And as for Zeus, well every god has some secrets right, this is one of mine. " said Poseidon, with the hint of a smile on his face, the first he had had since Perseus was declared missing.

Suddenly there was a bright flash and somebody else too appeared in the library. That somebody being Apollo. The minute he saw Poseidon and Athena together he stepped back, expecting a full-out fight, but was surprised to see that no weapons were being fired.

So he asked in a surprised tone," Uncle Poseidon, what are you doing in a library? Especially Athena's library? And Athena, your okay with this? Why aren't you two fighting? I heard uncle shouting at Athena in such a loud voice, I could hear it in Hecate's palace!"

Poseidon splashed water on Apollo's face, momentarily stopping him," Cool down Apollo, we were just talking about Percy and how to get more information on his current dilemma."

"Oooooo, well, about that, I'm sorry to say that Hecate and I couldn't find any cure that could heal Percy. And by the way, isn't that the only reason you two would talk to each other without being at each other's throat? And here I thought that you had become friends. How stupid of me." said Apollo, and then he started laughing at the thought of Athena and Poseidon being friends.

Poseidon and Athena chuckled and Poseidon said," Well Apollo, it's alright. Athena and I have decided to dissolve our rivalry and start afresh. We would like to test a new acquaintanceship between us. So we were going to the Atlantean Library to see if we could find any information."

Apollo made his jaw drop magically to the floor and his eyes widen to an extent which was not possible if someone was not a god. He then said," You got to be kidding me. You two decided to be friends? Oh, this is big, no wait, this is huuuuuuge and the whole of Olympus should know about it. Poseidon and Athena are finally friends."

And as Apollo was getting ready to teleport, Athena caught him by his throat and said," Oh you, my sweet brother are coming with us. First we are going to the infirmary. I need to check on Annabeth and see if she's awake or not, though she should be. Otherwise we shall go to the Atlantean Library and see if we can find any information there. " and Athena grabbed Poseidon's shoulder and together they all flashed out of there.

**In the Underworld**

Nico hurried to the personal quarters of his father, and he was running because no one, not even the son of Hades wants to take the summons of Hades lightly.

Also this was only the second time that he was invited to his father's personal quarters. The first time he had seen it was when he was being given a tour of the whole palace by a Fury and it was fascinating.

Normally, only Hades himself and Persephone can enter the room, and no one is allowed to go inside. But here was Nico, who had no idea why he was being called except that his father mentioned that this conversation would be about Percy.

And Hades had sounded urgent, very urgent. So when Nico reached the entrance to the quarters, he saw his father standing outside, talking to a guard,"….. should hear us. This conversation has to remain confidential."

When Hades saw him, he sent the guard away and ushered Nico in. Then Hades went to close the doors and all Nico could do was gape at the beauty and size of the room. The room was as big as half the throne room at Olympus. Torches of hellfire and Greek fire burning all around the room; and the bed, double the size of a normal king – sized one, made the room look like a neat, little representation of the underworld.

The sheets were black in color with the pillows being green representing both Hades and Persephone. The floor was made of mosaic marble and there was a study table made of Stygian Iron in the corner.

Also there was a door which was closed but which led to the bathroom, which was as big as 4 Jacuzzis. By the time Hades came back, Nico's jaw had dropped to the floor. Hades, in his ever so serious voice, started talking straight to the point," Son, I guess you have reached the same conclusions that I have about Jackson. He has become immortal and is the murderer of Sally Jackson, Paul Blowfish and the guard and is also the one who killed the blessed mortal and the nymph at Olympus."

"Even though I have thought about it Dad, I'm not so sure; I mean, Percy would never do that. His fatal flaw is personal loyalty and we all know that it is very difficult to act against that trait of ours. He would never do that to anyone, especially his own mother and Paul." said Nico.

"In normal circumstances I would say your right but ….." said Hades, stopping all of a sudden.

"But what dad?" probed Nico.

Hades began talking again but in a hushed tone," I had a talk with Sally's soul in the Judgment Court. She told me that Percy was the one who killed her and Paul. His face was badly burnt and his eyes were his only recognizable feature. Now how would she know this if Percy didn't kill her?" explained Hades.

But Nico protested saying," Even then dad, why would he kill his own mother? He has no reason to do so." Then Hades continued," Son, don't tell this to anyone but the council thinks that Kronos somehow changed Percy using the last of his life force, his very essence as a fuel. Percy's memory is all scrambled up and there are only a few bits and pieces left.

All details are not yet certain but Athena, Apollo and Hecate are working on it. Zeus has dispatched Artemis and the hunters to hunt for Percy. Right now, I haven't told anybody of my suspicions but sooner or later, I will have to reveal them. Until then, you will not tell anybody anything about this conversation of ours. Percy's condition will remain a mystery to the other demigods until later. Am I understood?"

Nico stood straight and said," Yes father, nobody will hear about Percy from my mouth. But will Percy be alright?" "MY LORD, MY LORD7, MY LORD, come quick my lord" shouted the guard stationed outside the quarters.

Hades and Nico rushed out at once and came upon a Fury who was flying above the guard. Hades asked," What happened? Didn't I tell you that my son and I were not to be disturbed?"

The guard was about to reply when the Fury said," My lord, it is not his fault, I have two pieces of disturbing news for you. There is a soul in the Judgment Court that claims to have seen Percy Jackson. Also there is great unrest in Tartarus, my lord, evil power is being drawn into the pit with every passing second."

"What" said Hades. He started wondering which being would be strong enough to come out of Tartarus right now after such a huge war. But he said," Let us see what that soul has got for us. Come my son, you could learn a few tricks along the way."

After reaching the courtroom, Hades immediately saw the soul that was being held off by guards by long spears. Hades waved them off and walked right up to the soul and said," Tell me everything you know right now or else I will sentence you to the worst punishment that there is."

Al, for it was him, that was being interrogated, said," My name is Al and I used to live on the streets of Manhattan. Today I was robbing people who had just woken up from sleep when my gang and I stumbled upon this teenager with a horribly burnt face. He was carrying this pen with him and he appeared slightly blurred to me. We tried to stop him but he went past us without even looking. When I called out to him in hopes of making him turn and be cautious, he ignored me and kept walking.

I thought that his ignorance would make decrease my reputation so I hit him from behind when he swung the pen at me which turned out to be a sword. We fought for a few minutes and he had superhuman strength. I punched him many times and it was like punching a steel wall, I hurt myself.

He threw me kicked me and backhanded me and I crashed into the wall like a ragdoll. He then cut my lef hand, then my right hand and in my last ditch effort I head butted him, hoping to stun him for a few seconds and make a quick getaway.

Instead I bust my own head open and fall right on the ground. I couldn't even get up because I had no hands and he left me there, probably to die by blood loss." " You still think Percy hasn't changed?" Hades asked Nico. "His description of Percy is as accurate as any."

Nico didn't answer but kept staring at the soul. Hades shook his head and ordered the guards to throw the soul into the Field of Punishments. The man had a horrified look on his face and he kept begging and pleading, "But I told everything, I told you everything."

**Line Breaker**

It was close to midnight and this was the time when Artemis was at her strongest. She and her hunt were camping in a forest having followed the trails left by the murderer which led her to believe that the person who was responsible for 5 murders so far was in fact a teenager, or more precisely, Perseus.

She had thought that he would be different, that he was not selfish or a chauvinist pig and actually respected women. He had traits in his character like loyalty, honesty and that childlike innocence which made even the darkest times brighter.

Now Artemis didn't harbor any kind of feelings towards the boy, after all, he was still a _boy. _She just thought he was different from the rest. But she was interrupted from her train of thought when she heard a voice," My Lady, My lady, come quick."

Artemis ran out of her tent and raced towards the voice to see Thalia, her lieutenant, and a new hunter, Tanya, daughter of Hermes, standing near a river with 5-6 bodies around them. She grimaced as she reached there, for the bodies were nothing more than a tangled mess of body parts with blood and flesh strewn all over the place.

She then asked," When did you find … this?" and Thalia replied, "We had come here to take a bath and refresh ourselves when we saw all these bodies littered around here. I personally think it's a Cyclops that appeared here and killed the mortals."

"No, no, no, it was not a Cyclops, for a Cyclops would eat the mortals up. I think this is another sign of that murderer on the loose." said Artemis.

"But My lady, why would that murderer kill mortals? And how would he kill mortals and nymphs with the same weapon? And how would that person have come here" protested Thalia. "And there are only footsteps of somebody coming to this bank. That can't tell us much except that the person came here on foot. You can see for yourself."

Artemis bent down and inspected the mud, taking a few particles of the substance and rolling it in her hand. "I don't know how we could kill mortals and non-mortals with the same weapon but we could know when we meet him. And although there are no signs of _him_ coming" said Artemis, forcing the word 'him', "for all we know he could have come out of the river or from the trees. Let me check."

And then Artemis started whistling which Thalia recognized as a method to talk to night birds. After waiting for some time, there was another sound of whistling and a bird came out from the tree and perched on Artemis' now extended palm.

Then the bird and Artemis had a conversation in the language of whistle, which ended with the bird flying back to the tree. Artemis turned around and said, "Well, that settles it. The bird said that she saw a man, with a sword in his hand (I didn't know if animals are affected by the mist or not, so in my story they are not), come near the river and stand on the bank, motionless the whole time. Then he suddenly jumped into the river and stayed there. After a few minutes a few people, who might have been a family, came into the view and sat down. The man then quickly stepped out of the river and the whole group could do nothing but stare. The man got to work and quickly butchered through the whole group within a matter of minutes. He then started hacking individual body parts of one person and then ate them all."

After hearing this, Tanya, who had been quite till now, started puking and it was all Thalia could do to not roll her eyes and comment at the weakness of her fellow hunter. Artemis sent a beam of energy and teleported Tanya out of there and into the infirmary tent. Then she continued, "Well, after that the bird just stopped seeing so for all we know, the man could have gone ….. Wait. Thalia, check if there are any footsteps on the other side of the bank."

Thalia quickly went and came back and refused, saying that the mud was all clean. "So that means that the murderer is still here somewhere. He's still lurking around. Quick go and call the hunters, I will keep a lookout and see if I can find him or not." deduced Artemis.

Thalia quickly ran in the direction of the camp while Artemis stood there, calmly readying her bow and drawing an arrow from her magically appearing quiver and placing it in her bow. "I know you're here. Just come out, we don't need to play this game for long."

She waited for a sound or movement, anything which might signal somebody's presence but nothing. It seemed as if the murderer had somehow gone away without walking. Suddenly she heard an animalistic groan from behind her and she jumped in front, then turned around, ready to shoot….. nothing.

There was nothing and it was all silent once again. Then she heard he sounds of running and turned around to see her hunters come with their bows and arrows drawn, ready to be used. Phoebe was the first one to break the silence, "Where is he, My Lady, where is he? I will kill him and shoot all my arrows into his worthless body."

Artemis said in a calm voice, "Calm down Phoebe. Do not take this man so lightly for he is very, very strong. He has killed many people already on both Olympus and down here and has escaped without even the slightest of a noise. We have to be careful with this particular hunt."

Phoebe was about to say something when a hunter screamed and they all looked at her to see a man with a horribly burnt face and blood surrounding his mouth standing there twisting the sword which cut the hunter's hand into two halves.

He had grabbed the hunter's throat with his other hand and was pressing it hard, making the hunter choke and flail around for air. Nobody could shoot the man because he was standing with the hunter's body protecting him.

Some of the other new hunters puked at seeing the man's face and even Thalia had a hard time controlling herself. So she instead shouted, "You coward, how dare you. Attacking a hunter from behind her back. At least have the decency to give her a painless death, you bastard."

During that time Artemis had moved a bit giving her just enough of a view to shoot his shoulder. And Artemis took that opportunity. She shot as fast as she could and struck the man. But the arrow just bounced of his skin and fell in the floor making the man aware of her position.

He looked at her and all she could do to not puke was to concentrate on his eyes. His eyes were sea green and had a tint of redness surrounding the iris. She knew only two people whose eyes were sea green in color, her uncle Poseidon and his son, Perseus.

She knew in an instant that killing Percy would be a blunder on her part and she also had to do something to end the torture that her hunter was suffering. So with all the willpower that she could summon, she shot her own hunter in the heart, thereby freeing her of all pain.

**Two hours ago**

Percy had been walking the whole day and was now nearing a forest when he felt a new emotion – hunger. He wanted to eat something so he walked towards the direction in which his gut told him to go. He soon came upon a river and stood there frozen, listening to the voice in his head say that he should jump in the river and wait and that a delicious meal would soon come his way.

So he jumped and waited. While inside the river he caught a few of the creatures that were swimming around and ate them. All the while he could hear these little voices in his head which were saying, "Son of Poseidon eating fish, son of Poseidon eating fish."

After a while he again heard the voice say, "Go." So he jumped out of the river and saw a family just sitting there and staring at him. He didn't like people staring at him so he swung his sword at the person nearest to him and continued all the way till everybody was dead. Then he cut the hands of one person and started eating them. He loved the taste and so he kept eating. After that, he cut the body parts of the other bodies too, just for fun. Then he heard voices coming and the voice told him to hide so he quickly ran away and hid behind a tree about a few hundred meters away and sat still, not making a sound.

He then waited for a long time when the voice in his head told him to round the whole area and attack the people who would be standing near the river. And he did just that.

**Now…**

Thalia had had many surprises in her whole life and she had been through a lot. But when she saw the beautiful sea green eyes of the person who had just killed a hunter, she instantly knew it was her cousin and that he was no more the Percy that she used to know.

She was now filled with anger at Kronos for turning Percy into something he was not and she had no one to take her anger out on except Percy himself. So when Artemis shot at Percy and he got distracted, he lowered his guard and all the hunters who were in possession of their physical selves shot at him continuously.

Percy was still holding the now dead hunter and even though he couldn't get hurt, he was being forced back from the attack. All the arrows were bouncing off him but he was still getting irritated. So he threw the dead hunter at the others and then ran toward Artemis who was quite away from the other group. And while all the other hunters were trying to get their bows and arrows in possession which had been mixed up when the hunter's body fell among them, Percy engaged the goddess of the moon and the hunt in a fight.

Artemis put her bow away and calmly took out her hunting knifes. She then waited for Percy to come and then she slashed at him, and he just stabbed at her with his sword. Artemis deflected the strike with her second knife and then slashed at his face.

But Percy caught the knife with his bare hand and then the whole battle came down to who would be the more powerful one. Artemis was surprised as she didn't expect Percy to do that. Both the combatants started trying to take the knife from each other but then Percy used his whole strength and started to overpower the goddess.

"What insane strength is this?" thought Percy But Artemis was one to lose so easily. She suddenly let go of the knife and Percy stumbled forward from the force he had been applying. Artemis took the opportunity and kicked Percy in the head and Percy crashed into a nearby tree. He got up with amazing speed and shook his head, then ran at the goddess.

Artemis was now ready. She would finish this once and for all. She quickly gripped the one hunting knife she had and got into a stance. But Percy suddenly stopped and threw the knife he had taken from Artemis at Artemis. She was surprised but caught the knife.

When she looked back at the position where Percy was standing, she saw nobody. Instead she heard another loud scream and turned around to see that Percy had stabbed another one of her hunters in the back and then cut her head off and quickly grab it before it fell.

All the other hunters, who had now sorted themselves, were standing away to see the fight between the man and their lady. What they didn't expect was for the man to instead run towards them with the speed even a hunter would envy.

Percy quickly ran away and felt the arrows, once again, bounce of his back and head. He knew that in a one on one battle Artemis would have crushed him. But his aim had never been to take on the goddess. He had just wanted to kill another hunter and then run away and he was successful.

The hunters were about to give chase to the man when they were stopped by Artemis herself. She said, "Don't follow him girls, he will kill you all and you wouldn't be able to even scratch him. Trying to go behind him alone is to invite death."

"But my lady, he killed Tracy and Ginny. He killed two hunters. How can we let him escape after doing such a deed?" protested Phoebe.

But before Artemis could say anything, Thalia said, "Artemis is right. He is too strong for us hunters. Our arrows would just bounce of his skin and he would butcher us to death. Only a god or goddess can defeat him and right now we need to give our fellow hunters a proper funeral rite. After we will hunt him again with only vengeance in our minds.'

Phoebe was about to retort when she was silenced from a glare by Artemis who then said, "Come on girls, let's go to camp and call it a night. Tomorrow we will perform the funeral rites and then return to our hunt."

**Somewhere in Tartarus**

"My champion still lives. And he challenged the hunt and also killed two of them. And he also fought with the hunt goddess, not bad, not bad at all. But I still need more power, I need more death, otherwise I cannot escape this prison. And then I will take my revenge. I will make those puny gods wish that they had never won the war, and Olympus shall be mine. I shall once again rule on Olympus. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA."

******And don't forget to review. The updates will be long and regular.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Anyways, here's the 5th chapter. Enjoy!**

**Near the edge of Tartarus**

Hades and Nico were standing around the dark abyss, called Tartarus, which housed some of the most evil entities in the history of Greek Mythology. The Furies and a few monsters were also present but were not as brave enough as to venture near the edge. But all could feel power being literally drawn into the pit as the wind was blowing faster and faster in the direction of the great abyss.

Even Hades was astounded when he had heard the news that there was unrest in Tartarus, but he then pondered, what better time to attack Olympus when it is at its weakest? Hades had never felt this power before but knew that it was as powerful as Kronos himself, if not, more.

And Hades was scared. He would never admit it but he was scared.  
>Nico, on the other hand, was not quite sure about how he should feel as this was the first time he had been with his father for so long without any arguments. But even he knew that the matter was very serious and was very much related to Percy, some way or the other.<p>

Nico was the first one to break the silence, "Father, have you ever ventured into Tartarus?"

Hades replied, "No son, and one never should. You should get this idea out of your mind. Nobody, not even us gods, can go into Tartarus and live to tell about it. Even I don't know all creatures that lurk around in that hellhole. "

"Jeez dad, I was just asking. But then, what about the titans?" asked Nico. "They have been in Tartarus for millennia and yet can come out of it to fight wars."

"Let Zeus never hear you say it, but I personally think that we beat the titans by luck and that they are stronger than us gods. In an all out war they would crush us beneath their feet. In the first war we won using trickery and also in this war." revealed Hades.

Nico had no response to that personal outburst of his father. Instead he asked, "Will we ever be able to know what being is trying to come out, in time?"

Hades was quite for a few moments, after which he chuckled and said, "Well, we can wait for it to come out. Then everybody will know who it is. But frankly speaking, I have always been able to identify the owner of power that comes in or goes out Tartarus. But, this power is more ancient, darker, and more powerful. I have never felt this before."

Nico was now truly scared. If this enemy was even older then Kronos and more powerful, and if his own father was scared, then they were all doomed. After all, they were barely able to defeat Kronos. And they had Percy on their side. Speaking of Percy…., "Dad, do you think there is some connection between this other power and the change in Percy?" asked Nico.

"Humph, now that you mention it, they do seem a bit connected. Let me think, Kronos loses, Percy goes missing and starts killing people, and there are chances of another being coming out of Tartarus. It does sound suspicious…" pondered Hades.

"What if Kronos never injected Jackson with his own essence but with somebody else's?" murmured Hades. "It is certainly possible and that spell was lost with the defeat of the Titans. What if Jackson is the host of something else entirely and the reason he is killing everybody and anybody is to give power to that being? It is certainly a possibility. And because a part of it is already in the outer world, it will have little problem in rising out of Tartarus."

"Father, we need to think about it. What you are saying is completely illogical and makes no sense. If what you are saying is true, then we have got another war on our hands." stated Nico.

"Son, since you have known about your true heritage and the presence of a completely different world, have you seen no such thing that is completely illogical and certainly unrealistic?" asked Hades, rolling his eyes.

Nico decided to remain silent this time.

Then a Fury, who had een hearing all of this, hissed, "My Lorrrrd, what should beeeee our plan of actionnnn?"

Hades had a thoughtful look on his face for a few moments after which he replied, "Triple the guards. Lock all doors of hell. No one, except the dead, can enter the underworld. And no one except my son, my wife, and me can go in and out of here. Anybody else and you have my permission to kill them. Is that understood?"

"Yesssss my lord." said all Furies, with smirks on their faces.

Suddenly, there was laughter coming from the pit. Hades and Nico looked inside the it, with terrified looks on both their faces while the hellhounds ran away and the Furies started shivering. The wind speed increased as more power was drawn into the pit.

"You puny god, you really think that a few extra guards can stop me from rising? Me? You are very much mistaken, for my return is inevitable. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA. I have been locked up in Tartarus for uncountable millennia, but I was not idle. Oh, no, no. I was biding my time, when you gods would be at your weakest and then, like a snake, I would strike and destroy you all. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA. But let me give you a small preview of what is to come in your very recent future."

And then a beam of black energy came out of the pit and struck Nico and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Then the beam wrapped around his legs and dragged him back into Tartarus before anybody could react. 3 more beams came and struck the Furies in the chest and they exploded into golden dust.

And all Hades could do was gape as the faded words came from the pit, "And this is what shall happen to you pitiful gods and your offspring's. All either dragged into Tartarus or faded from existence. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH A."

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oo, my son. Give him back to me, you coward. Take me instead. Just give me my son back. Please." Hades was now kneeling on the floor with his hands joined and tears flowing out of his eyes with the speed of a river flowing downhill.

**Camp Half Blood – 2 days ago…**

Chiron had been living for many millennia and the one thing that hurt him the most was when the demigods got hurt. He treated them like his own children, no matter what their parentage, and he was always proud when a demigod would achieve something great.

But seeing the demigods lament for their dead brothers and sisters broke his heart nearly a million times over. So young, yet they had seen the horrors of a war. Wounds from physical pain were still healable, but emotional pain was 10 times worse. Nobody deserved this kind of a life, certainly not at this age. But what could Chiron do? He was just a trainer.

The burning of the shrouds of the dead demigods was a ceremony which was always held with the most of serenity and peace and the only voices that were heard were that of crying. When the time for the speeches came, only the head counselors were called so as to save time and so that this somber moment would not last for long.

After the speeches, a day off was given so that the mourning could be completed and from then on the reconstruction of camp would continue and usual camp activities would begin.

**Today …**

Chiron was going to the big house to IM Hermes and check on the situation regarding Percy. When Hermes came in the vision, Chiron bowed.

Hermes just nodded and said, "Hello Chiron, what makes you want to see me? Is anything wrong? Don't tell me Travis and Connor again burned your tail. I would hate to see them cleaning the stables of Olympus all by themselves for a month."

"No, my lord, nothing of this sort has happened, yet." Replied Chiron, chuckling. "I just wanted to check in on the situation regarding Percy and see if there has been any new development. Are there any leads on the whereabouts of Percy?"

Hermes eyes glazed over for a moment, after which he sighed and said, "No Chiron, but there has been some discussion and we have arrived at the conclusion that as of right now, Perseus is no longer on the side of Olympus as his memory has been completely scrambled and destroyed. If he had any special emotions for a certain somebody, I'm sorry to say that those feelings are also gone. Also, Athena, Apollo, and Hecate are searching for a cure. Percy is now immortal. We are going to have a council meeting in the next 2 hours and if there is any new information, you will be informed. And make sure none of the demigods get to know about this, we don't want to create panic. They have just come out of a war and deserve some rest."

Chiron was pretty shook up after hearing the news but he managed to bow once again and say thank you, and then slash his hand through the mist to cut the connection. He started mumbling, "Percy, my special, special boy….."

And as he turned around, he saw the horrified looks of Katie and a younger child of Demeter, Taylor. They were both standing there, Katie with her mouth open and eyes wide and the Taylor with her eyes about to leak a whole river of tears.

Katie then said, "We came here to surprise you and give you the good news that the construction of the Poseidon cabin is complete, first, in honor of Percy. But I guess it was a complete waste of time as Cabin 3 won't have a use anymore, right? After all Percy is gone, and he even doesn't remember anybody at all. Tell me Chiron, when were you going to tell us all? Today, tomorrow, next week …. When, Chiron, when? Those demigods out there are working their ass of so that they can build a home again. A home for which Percy gave his life up, not once, not twice, but many, many times ….. they deserve to know Chiron, they deserve to know. But will you tell them? No. As always you want to wait for the right time." her voice climbing to tones of anger, disappointment and fury.

Then she shook her head and said in a sweet voice to Taylor, "Come on, little girl, let's go." Taylor nodded her head; they grabbed each other's hands and walked out of there.

Chiron was shocked. He didn't know what to do. Not anymore. Everything was a mess. Camp was broken, Percy was missing, somebody was killing both mortals and immortals, and the Katie and Taylor found about Percy.

This was one of those few times when he just wanted to go far away and take some well deserved rest from his millennia of work. But he just sighed, poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down to read a book.

**Throne Room**

Annabeth was just waking up, when she realized where she was and quickly got up and dusted down her clothes. She then apologized to Hestia for sleeping on her lap and making her sit in the same posture for hours.

But Hestia just smiled and said, "Child, I am used to sitting like this for hours. It was in fact pleasurable, seeing the Heroine of Olympus get her well deserved rest."

Annabeth just blushed and looked anywhere but at Hestia's face. Hestia grinned and said, "There is going to be a council meeting in 5 minutes and you should wait here. The Olympians would like to talk to you."

Annabeth was confused and asked why.

Then Hestia said, albeit sadly, "You should know, after all you were the only one who was present in the Throne Room when Kronos did what he did to Percy."

Annabeth just nodded, reminiscing that one particular memory of a very recent and painful incident.

Then there were 12 flashes of light as the Olympians teleported onto their thrones. None of them was happy, as they all had lost quite some of their children. Zeus looked around the room and said in his loud voice, "Where is Hades? Why has he not come? Does anybody know?"

Nobody responded and Zeus just murmured something inaudible then said, "We are here to discuss on the situation regarding Perseus Jackson. As we all know, he is now immortal but was declared missing when Apollo went to check up on him during the victory celebration."

He was interrupted by a gasp by Annabeth who just started crying, and buried her face into Hestia's arms. Zeus cleared his throat and continued, "My daughter, Artemis, reported that she had an encounter with Perseus. Artemis, please tell everybody else what happened."

"Yes father" said Artemis, her emotionless. "My hunters and I were camping in a forest near a river, 2 days ago. It was around midnight when I heard a hunter shouting and calling me. I quickly ran to her. There were 2 hunters, namely Thalia and Tanya, standing on the bank of the river with dead bodies littered around them. The bodies were hacked into several pieces and there were many footprints in the mud, probably of a whole group. I called a bird by whistling and asked her if she had seen what happened. The bird said that she did. She said that a man had come with a sword inn his hand. The man stood on the bank for some time and then jumped in the river. After some time, a group of people, probably a family came and sat down on the bank to rest. The man then came out of the river and killed all the people. Then, he cut the arms of one person and ate them."

Aphrodite interrupted, "He ate body parts of humans. Yuck! That must be a very disgusting, disgusting man. Even I wouldn't give him a makeover."

Artemis snapped, "Shut up, bitch. Can't you ever think of anything else except makeovers, you dumb slut."

Aphrodite gasped but didn't retort back. Everybody else was surprised because Artemis tended to ignore conversations when Aphrodite was included and rarely ever talked to her, let alone snap at her.

Then she took a few deep breaths and continued, "Then he cut the limbs of the others just like that, but then he suddenly ran away. That's what the bird saw. After hearing this, I sent Thalia to the other side of the bank to check if there were any footprints of a person going back into the forest. There were none. Even on my side of the river, the footprints were only going towards the river, none were going away. So I deduced that the man was still there and was hiding somewhere. I sent Thalia back to the camp to get the hunters. I took out my bow and arrow and called out to that petty excuse for a human. But all I heard was silence. By then my hunters had come and they drew their weapons and waited. Suddenly we heard a hunter screaming and turned around to see a man with a burnt face holding the hunter by her throat and having cut her arm off with his sword. She was screaming very loudly and all we could do was stare as he held the poor girl. She was in so much pain."

Then Artemis started crying and nobody said a word. Everybody was quite and giving each uneasy looks. Then Artemis wiped her tears and continued, "Well, Thalia started shouting at him and he got distracted and looked at her. I moved away from the group, slowly, to get a better viewpoint to shoot at him. When I moved, I saw that he had sea-green eyes with a tinge of red on their sides. And only 2 people have eyes of that exact color. So, I concluded that that man had to be Perseus."

"NO, my son would never kill anybody innocent. You are lying, Artemis. How dare you say something like that about my son?"Poseidon got off his throne, his trident appeared in his hand and he advanced towards Artemis.

Zeus and Apollo got up and stood in front of Artemis, who just sunk back into her throne. The 3 gods started having a glaring contest when Athena put her hand on Poseidon's shoulder and said, "Cool down, Poseidon, and think about it with a calm mind. She has nothing against Perseus, so why would she want to pin such a serious allegation on him? "

All Olympians had a surprised look on his face and Apollo just snickered. They were all astounded as to the fact that Athena even touched Poseidon and gave him advice properly, and that Poseidon didn't start arguing and fighting with the wisdom goddess.

Poseidon threw one last look at Artemis and then walked back to his own throne and sat down with a huff. Zeus, Apollo and Athena also returned and then Athena said, "Continue Artemis, you were saying that you thought that the man was Perseus."

Artemis looked around and then said, "Well, yes and then I shot at his shoulder but the arrow just bounced off his shoulder. And only one with the Curse of Achilles can block one of my godly arrows. But then his attention turned to me, and to relieve my hunter of her pain, I shot her in the heart."

Artemis again became quiet, as everybody knew how hard it must have been for her. The hunters were like her own children and she treated them as such. Having to kill one of them herself, must have been very difficult.

Artemis shook her head and continued, "Then he threw the dead body at the other hunters, and ran towards me to fight. We fought for a while and he had become very, very strong. I managed to push him back, but he had taken one of my hunting knifes. I kicked him into a tree, at a distance, but it was as if he didn't feel it at all. He just stood and ran towards me. Then he stopped and threw the knife at me. I was surprised and caught the knife but by then he got past me, ran towards one of the hunter with a lot of speed and stabbed her. Then he cut her head and ran away. He had managed to kill 2 hunters in less than 10 minutes with less than no trouble.

Everybody was worried. If this killer was Percy, then he had been responsible for the death of everyone.

"But that means that Percy killed Sally and Paul, why would he ever do that?" this came from Annabeth, who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time. "He would never kill his own mother, no matter what."

Then Hestia said, "Annabeth, dear, tell us what happened in the throne room. Tell us everything."

Annabeth nodded and then started speaking, "Well, Percy had just given Luke my knife and Luke had stabbed himself in his Achilles Point. And then he fell down. Percy and I were kneeling down near Luke and I was talking to him in his final moments. He then told Percy that the demigods should be claimed and that there should not be more demigods, unclaimed, in the Hermes cabin anymore. But suddenly, his blue eyes were replaced by the golden ones of Kronos. Kronos extended his hand into Percy's face and it went straight inside. Then Percy's eyes glazed over and these hideous burns appeared on his face. And then he fell down. By then, everybody else had come in." Annabeth had started crying again and so had Poseidon.

There was silence. Nobody had excepted this. Nobody knew what to say. Suddenly, there was a huge flash of light and it was completely black. And Hades appeared in the room. Zeus stood up and started shouting, "Hades. How dare you make a mockery of the council by appearing late? How dare you? I will make sure that you are completely banished from Olympus"

"Shut the hell up, Zeus! I'm not here to listen to your rant. My son…." Hades started sobbing all of a sudden. "My son has been dragged into Tartarus."

The whole council stood up. Hades continued, "There is somebody else. Some other being is trying to come out of Tartarus. It needs death to give itself power. And some of its essence is in that boy, Jackson. Jackson kills people, and the more he kills, the more power that being gets. And let me tell you, Olympians, I am going to kill that boy, immortal or not. I am going to destroy that creature and erase it from existence. And nobody can stop me."

And then, just like that, Hades was gone. There were murmurs of "Did you see? Hades was stronger." and "Oh, that poor, poor boy."

Then Zeus started saying, "As of now, Percy is now declared an enemy of Olympus and he shall be captured on sight. Any immortal who tries to help him will suffer severe consequences. Meeting Dismissed."

**In the outskirts of Manhattan, 17 miles from Camp Half Blood**

Percy was standing, seeing the city and smirking. When Percy had escaped from the hunters, he had run for a few kilometers before stumbling out in the open, and reaching the outskirts of Manhattan. He then sat down, kept his sword by his side and held out the hunters head.

He used his fingers to pry out the eyes and put them in his mouth, chewing them and relishing at the taste. He then tore of the lips and ears and ate them too. He drank the blood that had started dripping out. He started peeling out the skin and ate it as well, bit by bit, and piece by piece.

He then ripped open the head and took out the grey matter, the brain. He ate it slowly, swallowing every piece and digesting it properly. He took out the skull, broke it and licked each piece of bone till they were shining white.

He threw the rest, for it was all hair and teeth, and he didn't like that. And then he fell down, exhausted. And he had a dream.

In his dream he was in a dark place and he couldn't even see his own outstretched hands. It was completely black. And then there was a booming sound of laughter which seemed to come from everywhere. Percy looked around confused.

Then the laughter stopped and the voice started speaking, "My champion, you're doing good, in fact, you are doing great. You have given me a lot of power in a very short period of time. Just keep killing more people and soon I will be free of these bonds. In the mean time I want you to stay where you are, for Hades is looking for you. And he has some nasty ideas. But don't worry, it may hurt a bit, but what he does to you won't kill you, instead you will become stronger, much stronger and completely invincible. Just stay put my champion, and keep on killing."

Percy woke up. And he followed the orders of the voice from Tartarus. He stayed in the same area for the next few days, just going around for people to kill and eat sometimes raw meat of the animals too.

One day he was very tired after coming from chasing a deer and eating it. He decided it was nap time. He lay down on the hard ground and slept instantly. He felt as if there was something being poured on his head. So he opened his eyes and some of the liquid seeped into his eyes and he had a burning sensation in his head which kept on increasing, and then in his whole body.

And then Percy was picked up by the throat and into the air. He slowly opened his eyes to see the dark onyx colored ones of Hades, who was glaring at him. Then the god of the underworld started speaking, "Peek-a-Boo. I finally found you. You are the reason my son is in Tartarus, the reason why somebody else is getting power to come out of Tartarus, well news flash Jackson. You still haven't been on my bad side. And people don't like it when they are on my bad side. You better start praying, for your end is near, very near. I will destroy you, and even your immortality won't be able to stop me." By the end, Hades had a maniacal grin in his eyes.

Hades picked up Backbiter and thrust it into Percy's abdomen. "You feel pain, Yeah; I know that you're feeling pain. After all, you give so much of it to others. I poured water mixed from the Rivers Acheron and Phlegethon on you. The river Phlegethon is the river of fire; it will burn away your Curse of Achilles and the water from river Acheron, the river of pain, well, that's just for the pain."

Percy didn't feel any pain. But if he did, he didn't react at all. Hades didn't like that, so he disappeared into a bright flash of black light.

**On the bank of River Styx**

Hades appeared on the bank of River Styx and slammed Percy into the ground. Then he took out Backbiter from Percy's body and stabbed him in the chest, again. Percy just kept lying on the ground and Hades kept stabbing him with the sword till he got tired.

Then he stabbed him for the last time and stepped back, taking quick short breaths. And Percy quickly got up. He stood up as if nothing ever happened and locked his eyes with those of Hades. This action only fueled Hades' anger who again grabbed Percy by the throat.

But this time Percy was ready. Percy immediately kicked Hades in the knees and Hades was down kneeling. Then Percy kicked him in the head and Hades fell down. Then Percy began tugging at the sword in his chest, trying to pull it out.

By this time, Hades had got up and he stretched out his hand. And the Sword of Hades (remember: from the Demigod Files) appeared in his hands. And that is the reason Hades had seemed stronger to the Olympians. He then waited for Percy to turn around.

Percy was finally successful in pulling out the sword from himself. He gripped the sword tightly and turned around only to get stabbed in the forehead by Hades' sword. Percy felt as if his life was being sucked out of him, literally. He pushed himself away from Hades and stumbled back, nearing the edge of River Styx.

Hades came forward, grabbed Percy, by his clothes, by both hands and threw him in the River Styx, the Sword of Hades still stuck in his forehead.

**In Tartarus**

Nico had been falling from the past 2 hours but he still hadn't reached the ground. He murmured, "Tartarus must be reeeeally deep."

Suddenly he felt face first into the ground. He groaned loudly and stood up, when he could, and touched his ribs; broken, his nose; bleeding. He looked around but couldn't see anything.

So he kept staggering and trying to see something. Then he heard a laugh. And a voice, "So, son of Hades, you are finally here. Do not worry, the time you spend in this pit will be quite ….. eventful. You won't be bored at all."

Nico tried to summon some of his courage and shouted back, "Who are you? Why did you drag me into Tartarus? And why are you trying to destroy Olympus? What did they do to you? And are you the one who took control of Percy?"

"So many questions, young one." The voice chuckled. "My identity will remain a secret to you, for now. For even if I tell you my name, it would be of no use. I am so old, so forgotten, that my name is known only by the Primordial Beings and a few of the earliest titans. I dragged you into Tartarus to make your father suffer. And to cause strife among the Olympians, the main reason being Zeus' insolence. Yes, I am the one who has taken control of your friend, Perseus Jackson. He will do all my dirty work and by the time he is finished, the war will be as good as over. You gods don't have the inkling of an idea of who I am. And I attack Olympus because of vengeance. Of course, you're just a demigod; you wouldn't understand any of this. But know this, when I rise out of the pit, the age of gods will be doomed. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA."

**I think this chapter was quite eventful wasn't it.****  
><strong>**Nico is in Tartarus; Hades used the Sword of Hades and threw Percy in the River Styx; and now all gods know who the murderer is.****  
><strong>**Katie and Taylor also know the partial truth.**

**Will they tell the other demigods? Will Nico survive Tartarus? Will Percy be alive or will he die in the River Styx? And nobody still told me who the entity in Tartarus is. **

**Do not forget to review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yo, I'm back. And here I have the 6th chapter in this book.****  
><strong> 

**Chapter 6**

**The deepest chamber of Tartarus**

Children of Hades are thought to be fearless and very powerful, afraid of nothing as their father is the god of the underworld himself, the most feared god in Greek Mythology. And sitting in Tartarus in a chamber of darkness, with the company of nothing except a voice which spoke whenever it wanted, Nico wanted to tell everybody how correct they were.

Nico was actually enjoying this solitude, for the past 2 days, he hadn't felt hunger or fright and the darkness around him made him feel more secure and powerful, made him feel at home. 'The voice' had told him that if a mortal was in Tartarus, then that particular being would become immortal till he/she stayed in the pit, so that he/she wouldn't die during the torture.

After 2 days 'the voice' talked to Nico and told him to betray the gods and join the 'side of the winners'. Nico was surprised but he vehemently refused. What he didn't know was that this refusal would only make his stay worse.

From then on, Nico truly felt what Tartarus was like. Whenever Nico tried to sleep, 'the voice' of the still mysterious entity started laughing and talking in a deafening voice which made him want to get up and slap the person silly. And if Nico didn't listen, then the occasional Cyclops _somehow managed_ to enter the chamber, making him fight for his life.

Of course, Nico had contemplated suicide, but then the Cyclops wouldn't kill him. The Cyclops would just pick up Nico and throw him around, making him feel pain. The wounds would automatically heal themselves and this would continue till Nico killed the monster.

And 'the voice' showed Nico visions. Visions of his mother, Marie, and his sister, Bianca, coming back to life and of Hades killing them mercilessly. Visions of Percy destroying Olympus and killing all demigods. Visions of himself raping Artemis and the hunters again and again.

'The voice', as Nico called it, was currently reflecting its current state and how it had become what it was today. It had been in Tartarus since the rise of Kronos. It was very powerful indeed, but some foul deeds and betrayal by its close kin led to its demise and it was banished to Tartarus by a spell which could not be broken by just raw power.

So it waited, for eons it waited and sensed the world above it change and advance. Wars were fought, by both mortal and immortal and the rulers of the earth changed from the titans to the gods. It then watched the various wars the gods fought for their own survival.

All the time it kept collecting power and storing it for the one time when the rulers would be at their weakest.

The one thing that was needed to make sure that the spell was broken was that 'the mysterious entity' was summoned by its own essence from outside Tartarus. So it made a deal with Kronos and Percy became the host of a part of its essence.

Of course, it could have come out anytime it wanted from the time its essence got out of Tartarus but it didn't want to fail and die just because of some binding weakness like a host, like Kronos did. It would rise in its full incarnate form and then nobody would be able to defeat it.

Nico, in the meantime, was being tied down on one of the walls by dark beams of energy. He was very surprised and asked, "What, what is happening to me, why are you tying me to a wall?"

'The voice' then asked, "Nico, son of Hades, I wish to rise out of Tartarus and destroy the Olympians. Do you surrender your spirit and your free will to my cause?"

Nico just replied, "Are you mad? Didn't you hear what i said earlier? I am not going to join you. Why would I ever do that? My answer is and will remain no. You can do whatever you want, but I won't change my decision."

'The voice' just chuckled and said, "As you wish."

A gorgon then formed in the shadows, came near Nico and forced her tongue down his throat and started kissing him. Nico tried to move his mouth in disgust but the gorgon grabbed his face with both of her hands and because of his tied limbs, Nico was unable to do anything.

This continued on for a few more minutes after which the gorgon stopped. She smiled innocently and punched Nico's crotch. Nico's eyes widened in surprise and he screamed. Then the gorgon took out a knife and made small cuts on her right and her left hand. The blood from one hand is poison which can kill anything and from the other hand, it is a cure which can heal anything.

She dropped one drop of blood from each arm in the eyes of Nico, who screamed in pain. He tugged at the beams of energy but to no avail. He kept screaming and crying for a long time.

Then the voice started to speak, "The blood from the gorgon's arms won't kill you as they negate each other's effect. But the pain will remain. Surrender your will and your spirit to me and the pain will go away. Think about how your father did nothing when you were dragged into Tartarus. How Perseus let your sister die in the junkyard of the gods just because he didn't want to give up his own life. How Camp Half Blood and its inhabitants always treated you like an outcast just because of your parentage. How Zeus killed your mother because of his paranoia and his thirst for power. How you had to spend 80 years in a hotel, frozen in time, not moving backwards or forwards just because your father was afraid to fight his own brother."

Nico was quite for some time after which he raised his head replied, "All the things that you said are not true. You can torture me as much as you want to but I will never become your slave and see the world destroyed." Nico's voice had become hoarse from all the screaming.

"You misunderstand me demigod. I have no intention of harming the mortals; otherwise, who else would I rule? The only living beings who would feel my wrath are the current rulers of Olympus, which happen to be the Gods. The rest will go unharmed." said the voice in its calm tone.

The voice continued, "But if you still feel that I am wrong, then….."

The gorgon again dropped a single drop of her blood from each arm into Nico's eyes. And he again screamed in agony and anguish. He wished that somebody would help him, that somebody would end this torture and tell him that everything was going to be alright.

Then the ropes started moving forward in such a way that Nico was left hanging in the middle of the chamber. And the next monster that came in was no one else but Dr Thorn, the manticore. He had a whip in his hand which had burning thorns on the other end.

Then Dr Thorn whispered in Nico's ears, "I personally wish that you never say yes to my master, so I can torture you for the rest of eternity." And then he chuckled.

He then stood back, held out the whip and waited. 'The voice' then said, "Begin" and the manticore cracked it on Nico's back. Nico started screaming in pain but after sometime even the tears dried up. Nico was completely dehydrated.

Dr Thorn kept whipping Nico, till there was no skin left. Even then he continued, his whip cracking Nico's spine and breaking it in one go. Pieces of flesh and muscle and bone and pints of golden blood fell from inside Nico. The whole time Nico kept screaming so much that his vocal cords got torn and he couldn't scream anymore.

He would have slipped into unconsciousness had it not been for the power of 'the voice' that kept Nico awake the whole time.

Dr Thorn whipped Nico till the whip broke and got torn. The manticore then took out a another whip from nowhere and was going to continue whipping Nico when 'the voice' said, "That's enough for the first day. You will come back tomorrow and the same treatment will be issued if he doesn't concede to my demands."

"My Lord, can I hit the demigod one last time?" asked the manticore.

'The voice' was quite for some time and then it said, "Just one more strike."

The manticore smirked and then went to face Nico. Nico's eyes were closed and his head was moving from left to right and vice-versa, continuously. Dr Thorn took one poisonous thorn, gripped it very tightly and then stabbed Nico in the groin; "This is for making me fail in my mission and being punished by Kronos." spat the manticore.

Nico opened his mouth and screamed but no sound came out as his voice box was also broken. Then the manticore dissolved in a swirl of black dust.

Suddenly, Nico shook, as if he was electrocuted, and the rope let him loose, making him free fall to the ground 30 feet below. He fell and broke his legs and one of his hands.

'The voice' then said, "You poor, poor demigod. You suffer for the gods when they have done nothing for you. Why are you so stubborn and obstinate?" 'The voice' sighed and then continued, "Anyways, I gave you a bit of energy so that you don't fade. Not right now. When this war is over I will hand you over to the manticore who has some gruesome tortures in his mind, just for you. So don't go through this pain, you just have to agree to my demands and hand over your freewill to me. I will make sure that you get a position of authority when I come to power."

Nico just grunted as he couldn't say anything. He knew that any attempts at refusing would be worthless. So he just lay there, hoping that the next day would never come.

**In the Throne Room**

Hades was thinking about his son, thinking of what he could have done to save his son from being pulled into Tartarus. He knew his son was as good as dead but his feelings as a father didn't allow him to reach that conclusion.

After Hades had stabbed Percy in the forehead with the Sword of Hades and flung him in the river, he returned to his quarters, all his energy and anger spent.

He had also thought of the heroic acts Percy had once committed and how he would now fade from existence, after all no one could survive being thrown into the Styx with the Sword of Hades sucking his life out.

He was just tired and sad and when Persephone showed indifference to Nico's inevitable demise, he snapped at her and told her to get away from his sight.

He then went to Olympus, called an emergency meeting and here he was now, telling them of what had taken place. "…. and then I grabbed him and threw him in the River Styx. I'm sure that no immortal, not even we gods can survive that kind of an ordeal and he will surely have faded from existence."

Zeus got very angry, he stood up, pointed his Master Bolt at Hades and said, "How dare you try to forge a weapon. You are surely preparing to dethrone me once again. Hasn't my rule been fruitful enough, so full of peace? Why do you want to destroy that peace by starting another war?"

Hades just shook in anger and said, "Omnipotence has blinded you brother. Are you completely blind to the plight of Poseidon and me? Have you no shame as to not put blame on somebody when they have just lost their children? Can you not see Poseidon sobbing due to the loss of his son? And I lost my Nico too. If we wanted to dethrone you, we could have done it a long time ago. So don't test my patience brother, unless you really want another war at your hands."

Zeus just shot a glare at Hades and then looked at other Olympians for support. But all were strongly glaring at Zeus and he just huffed, sitting in his throne and mumbling something about a bad family.

Athena then spoke up, "Seeing that my father is currently..." she glanced at Zeus and continued, "unavailable, I would like to recap everything that Hades just told us. So, there is a new being who is trying to rise out of Tartarus using Perseus as his weapon. And as a warning, he dragged Nico, son of Hades, into Tartarus. Hades in retaliation sought out to search for Perseus and after finding him, removed his Curse of Achilles by pouring water from the Rivers Acheron and Phlegethon on him. He then transported him to banks of the River Styx and after stabbing him with the Sword of Hades, threw him into the river, thereby effectively removing him as a threat to Olympus.

Poseidon broke down again, saying that his son was cursed by the fates to never have a peaceful life. Athena then surprised everybody again by consoling Poseidon.

She then said, "Meeting Dismissed" and teleported with Poseidon to Zeus-knows-where. From then the seas have been completely stagnant and many species of marine life suffered.

Hades also returned to the underworld and here he was now, sulking in his room once again. He decided that a walk through his domain might calm him down so he got up and donned his royal clothes.

He then went, first to the Elysian Fields, then the Fields of Punishment (No use going to Asphodel Fields – it's just a big grassland with lots of empty spirits).

As he was walking by the Styx he again remembered the incidents of 2 days ago, his fight with Percy. It was as if Percy had purposely gone near the Styx, to get thrown in it.

He stared at the dark water of the river of hatred, seeing its fast current and deciding that it was all his imagination. As he turned around to go, he heard the sound of the water gurgling.

He turned around to see that the water was boiling and there was a lot of foam gathering in the surface. He went near for a closer look when everything suddenly cleared up. He then stood up straight and called out to the goddess Styx.

The goddess formed out of the water of the river named after her and bowed in front of the god. Hades nodded and asked, "What happened to the body of the young man that fell 2 days ago in your river? And why are there foams on the surface of your river?"

"Do you mean the man whose face was burnt and who had a sword stuck in his forehead?" questioned Styx. Hades just nodded.

Styx said, "He first struggled with the sword, trying to take it out. And then he became motionless and his body fell to the riverbed. It's been lying there since, rotting. Was the young man by any chance Perseus Jackson? And foams have been rising from the wound in his head since he fell in the river."

Hades then replied, "Yes, the young hero was ... altered by a spell of Kronos. He was killing everyone he saw. So I stabbed him in the head with my sword and threw him in the river. Wait….. are you saying that the body is still there?"

Styx shrugged and said, "Yes, it's been lying there ever since. But Perseus had the Curse of Achilles. Hows did you stab him?"

Hades' eyes flared up, and for a moment Styx was scared she had said something wrong. So when Hades said, "I have to report this to the council" and flashed out of there, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Styx turned to go back into her river when a hand suddenly came out of the river and grabbed the mud. Then another hand came out and grabbed the mud. Styx stumbled back in surprise, shock and wonder.

Then a face came out. No, a face wearing a mask came out. Then the whole body slowly came out. And stuck in the forehead of the creature was a sword. There was smoke coming from the sword.

But its dark color and grip gave away its identity. For present in the grip were the Keys of Hades. The keys, which could unlock or lock death. There was only one sword like that. And only one person had the Sword of Hades stuck in his forehead.

Perseus Jackson was alive.

He gripped the sword by one hand pulled it out in one try. His whole body was the same as it had been when he fell but his clothes were now the same color as that of the river's water and his face was covered by a strange looking mask, with lots if holes. Probably, air holes – thought Styx.

She was wondering how somebody could survive a fall in the Styx without dying and having his/her particles scattered all over the river.

Styx stretched her hand and a normal looking celestial bronze sword appeared in her hand. She then took a stance and the 2 had a stare-off, like 2 opponents before a match.

Then Percy started walking towards her and she stood there, getting nervous by the moment. Then she thought – to hell with him, I will kill him now as he doesn't have the Curse of Achilles on him.

She ran towards the teenager and sliced at him. He simply blocked her strike with his sword and kicked the goddess in the stomach. She was again forced back and Percy continued to walk. She then raised her hand and gallons of water from the River Styx rose, and with the flick of her hand, flew toward Perseus.

Percy just stood there as he was doused by the most poisonous water on earth. Smoke again started rising due to the amount of acid in the water. Styx smirked, and waited. She again heard the sound of footsteps and was surprised to see Perseus still walking towards her, unharmed.

He then stopped and raised his hand towards his face. He took of his mask and the sight made Styx recoil in disgust. For Percy's head was shrunken, one of his eyes was bulging out and it was purplish in the region of his mouth and nose.

Percy opened his mouth and Styx almost puked. Percy's teeth were broken except a few, and there was blood all around …. the remaining part of his otherwise missing lips.

In the center of his forehead was a stab wound from the Sword of Hades. In all Percy looked repulsive. And as Styx started running towards him again, Percy put on his mask and got in a stance.

Styx raised her sword and stabbed at Percy's right shoulder but he raised his sword and deflected it. Then he swung at Styx's head and she dodged it by bending forward and head butting Percy in the abdomen.

He stumbled back and Styx started on the offense. She sliced at him with such speed that there was not much that Percy could do but defend. Even then Styx landed many a strikes on him.

And soon there was golden blood all over Percy's clothes, and he started staggering. Styx got a bit cocky and said, "You may have defeated Kronos and may have become immortal but you are going to die by my hands. And I will forever be known as the goddess who managed to defeat Perseus Jackson."

Then she stabbed Percy in the heart. Percy stood straight like a statue. "Finally, I am victorious. It wasn't even that tough, was it? You're pathetic. I don't know how you got the Curse of Achilles and defeated all those monsters but you are worthless." spat Styx. Then she literally spat on Percy's mask.

The spit was like a spark to a fire, because Percy then raised his sword and stabbed Styx in the heart, making her gasp. Now both the combatants were in a stalemate. Both had stabbed each other's hearts.

Styx then said with a sneer, "Give up, son of Poseidon. You have no chance of winning against me. I am a goddess. You are just a demigod-turned immortal."

In response, Percy just twisted his sword. But the advantage was with Percy. Hades' sword had the power to absorb the life force of any immortal or mortal and make its wielder stronger.

Styx was feeling very light headed and her form had begun to flicker. She was feeling very nauseated and she asked, "What is happening to me? What are you doing to me?" She then started coughing blood and her eyes were also leaking blood.

"No, no, you are ... making me ... fade. Screw you Percy Jackson, screw you." shouted Styx.

Percy then gripped Styx's sword that was piercing his heart and put pressure on it, and after a few minutes the sword broke, leaving the tip in stuck in Percy's heart. He took the remaining part and stabbed Styx in the eye.

She screamed and Percy pulled out his own sword and stabbed the goddess in the other eye. Then he pulled the sword out and decapicitated Styx in one slice, making the goddess fade.

There was a onyx colored glow around Percy's body frame for a few moments. Percy then stood up straight and started walking to the one place which had been his original destination:

CAMP HALF-BLOOD

**So, how was it? Percy was successful in making a goddess fade and I hope the fight scene was good enough. If you think it was bad, then, well, I will try to improve.****  
><strong>**Also, Nico will be playing a major role after a few chapters and you will all be really surprised to the twist which he brings to the story.**

**Until the next chapter...**


	7. Chapter 7

**Read on!**

**Chapter 7**

**3 days later ….**

Annabeth had been detained in Olympus for a few days for further questioning after which she was taken to camp in one of the vans along with her mother, Athena, and Artemis, who was transporting the hunters to camp.

Along the way, Athena and Annabeth kept discussing about the blueprints of the temples and palaces of the gods to be made on Olympus when Artemis called out to Annabeth and said, "I didn't want to interrupt but I couldn't help wonder that as the war is now over, if you would like to be a hunter again.

Thalia then butted in and said, "Yes Annabeth, it is fun in the hunt. You would love it there. We kill monsters, camp in forests, have every type of meat that there is. And the company of each other is also quite satisfying."

Artemis then said, "You already know the terms. You would be a wonderful addition to the hunt."

Athena coughed and everybody looked towards her. Then she said, "Excuse me, but my daughter is not going to join the hunt. She is now the architect of Olympus and has duties which she cannot neglect. I'm afraid she has little to no time to spare to the hunt. Now come here daughter, we have to make more designs."

Artemis' eyes narrowed and she said, "Sister, it is Annabeth's decision if she wants to join the hunt or not. You shouldn't come in between."

Athena then said, "And as she is my daughter I know what is best for her. The war has been quite strenuous for her and it would do her good to be in camp with her fellow demigods and lead the rest of her life in peace. After a few weeks of rest she would start designing Olympus – which has always been her dream."

Thalia then said, "How about we let Annabeth decide? But you should know that you will be immortal – and would only be able to die in a battle. And with the skill and experience that you have, you would surely never die."

Annabeth was silent for some time after which she spoke, "I'm sorry, Artemis, Thalia, but I am already being offered immortality by Zeus and mom because designing the whole of Olympus would take years much more than my life contains. It has always been my dream to design something which would last forever. I cannot join the hunt."

Artemis sighed and said, "It is your decision dear. But if you ever change your mind, you should know that you will always be welcome."

The face of Zeus suddenly appeared in between Athena and Artemis and he said, "Daughters, come to Olympus immediately. We have another emergency meeting. Perseus has survived the fall in the River Styx and well … come quickly. We have much to discuss."

Athena nodded and said, "We will be there instantly father. And I was wondering if I could bring my daughter – you could complete her ritual and then work would begin right away."

Zeus nodded and said, "OK." Then he slashed through the mist, thereby cutting the connection.

Athena grabbed Annabeth's shoulder and then she and Artemis flashed in their godly forms and disappeared.

Meanwhile Thalia wondered aloud, "Percy escaped from a fall in the River Styx – but didn't he already have the Curse of Achilles? Why would he jump in again? I will ask my lady when she gets back."

There was a sudden _thud_ and the van suddenly stopped and Thalia fell forward and cursed quite a lot. Phoebe shouted at Argus, the driver, "What the hell happened? Why did you stop the van?"

Argus looked back slowly and scared the hell out of Phoebe with his numerous eyes. He then pointed to the front of the car and then looked forward. Thalia got the message and opened the back and all the hunters drew out with their bows drawn.

They all went in front of the van to find a boy fallen face down with a sword lying nearby. Not looking at the sword, Thalia knelt near the boy, assuming him to be a demigod, and asked, "Are you okay? Are you feeling alright? Are you in a condition to speak?"

The boy's hand moved a bit and he started getting up. He had jet black hair and was wearing a coat. He got up only to stumble forward. He then bent down to grab his sword.

Only then did Thalia get a good look at the sword. It seemed as if she had seen the sword before and it was on the tip of her tongue. She then looked at the grip and saw keys in it.

It then hit her like a lightning bolt (no pun intended) – it was the Sword of Hades – but what was it doing with this boy?

She then asked him, "How did you come in possession of this sword?"

The boy didn't answer but kept standing motionlessly. Something about him made Thalia feel very uncomfortable, as if she was to be wary of him.

She then reached out to grab the shoulder. In that instant, he grabbed her hand, threw her above his shoulder and slammed her into the ground. Hard. She started groaning and clutching her head.

All the hunters then started shooting at him and the arrows stuck in his back, legs, hands, and head. He turned around and the hunters recognized him by his eyes. He was Perseus, the murderer.

He ran towards one of the hunters and kicked her in the stomach. Then he backhanded another in the face. She fell into 2 others. Phoebe dropped her bow, took out her hunting knifes and ran towards the former Hero of Olympus.

Percy saw her coming and stabbed another hunter in the stomach before turning to face her. She kept running and just as she reached him he slashed at her. She ducked and was able to nick Percy in the arm.

Percy ignored that and instead punched Phoebe on the jaw. She went sprawling back. But she got in a stance and waited. Another hunter tried to hit Percy from behind but Percy ducked and pushed her from behind and she ran into Phoebe.

He then sliced at another hunter's hand and kicked her in the side of the head. She crumpled then and there. He then turned around to see Phoebe and the second hunter ready, Phoebe with her knives and the other one with her bow.

Thalia was just getting up and at first she saw everything hazy and blurred. After rubbing her eyes a few times she saw that there was silver and golden blood splattered everywhere. She quickly got up and looked around to see Percy and Phoebe and another hunter in a melee fight.

The occasional hunter interfered but was literally thrown back by Percy's strength and the 2 hunters were also starting to tire out. But Percy seemed to have infinite strength as he fought of the age old hunt with little to no problem.

Thalia then got up and raised her hands in the air. She then mumbled, "Sorry Percy" and shouted, "Go to hell, asshole" and a _huge _lightning bolt stuck Percy. For a few seconds nobody could see anything because of the light.

When it all cleared Percy was on his knees and appeared dazed. With lightning speed Thalia shot an arrow at Percy which turned to celestial bronze rope at the last moment to bind Percy. Thalia then fell down because of the exhaustion caused due to the excessive power use.

Percy tugged and tugged, but even his superhuman strength was not enough to break the rope. Phoebe then got up and kicked Percy in the side. Percy was already bleeding a lot but it was as if he didn't even feel any pain. Phoebe then said to the other hunters, "Our guest must be taken care of properly. So shouldn't we take out these arrows out of his body?"

Hearing that, all the other hunters got a maniacal grin and gathered around Percy except one, who went to check on Thalia. They all started pushing the arrows inside Percy's body and taking it out the other side. Percy kept standing and the hunters kept doing it till all the arrows had come out.

By then Thalia was completely fine; but when she saw the whole scenario, she just sighed in sadness and said to herself, "Percy, why are you doing this? Why are you killing everybody you see? Why?"

But then she wondered – how could Percy bleed when he had the Curse of Achilles? And taking out the curse was impossible, or so she thought. This was one of the many things she would ask Artemis, but for now she had to decide what to do with their captive.

She went near Percy and shouted, "Hunters, today another one of our sister has fallen. But we have finally caught the one who is responsible for all this. We shall go on and take him to Camp Half Blood. There we shall give our hunter the last rites and also decide what to do with our captive."

Phoebe nodded and then came up to Percy and punched him in the face. She then screamed loudly and shouted, "I broke my hand, I broke my hand. Ouch, ouch, ouch."

Thalia again wondered - how did it break? If Percy doesn't have the Curse of Achilles anymore, then how did Phoebe's hand break? I think Percy's face must be too strong or Phoebe's hand must have been hurt from earlier.

She said to all the hunters, "Come on, hunters. Let's go on to the camp. There we will have some rest and I will Iris Message Artemis as soon as we reach there."

All the hunters and Argus loaded Percy in the van and then sat in themselves. Then they all drove to the camp without any further incidents.

**In the Council Meeting**

When Athena, Artemis and Annabeth flashed into the throne room, the council had already started. Hades and Zeus were shouting at each other and the word Styx and Perseus was used a lot of time. Poseidon was seething on his throne and when it got over his head he banged his trident on the ground and shouted, "If you two don't want the world to drown and the end of all civilization to come then you two better sit on your thrones and shut the hell up.

He then noticed the trio of goddesses and demigod standing and said, "Ah, here you are, come on sit down, Hades had called an emergency meeting 3 days ago but _Zeus, our king_ decided to hold one now."

Athena and Artemis sat on their respective thrones and Annabeth went and sat near Hestia. After everybody was settled down Poseidon continued, "So Hades, what was so important that you had to call another emergency meeting?"

Hades muttered some curses at Zeus after which he said, "After the last council meeting was over, I had gone to the underworld and was taking a walk through my domain. When I was near the River Styx I saw a lot of foams being formed at the surface of the river. I went near and after a while the foams went away. So I summoned the goddess Styx and asked her about the body of young Jackson. She said that the body was still intact and was lying at the river bed. And the place where the Sword of Hades had stabbed him, lots of foams were rising from that wound. So I decided to call an emergency meeting then and there. After Zeus refused to my demand, I went to the bank once again and sensed death in the vicinity. I searched around but could not pinpoint where it exactly was coming from but I could tell that an immortal had died. So I called Thanatos and asked him if he had seen any death on the banks of the River Styx. He told me that a death had taken place and it was …" At this point stopped and sighed.

He muttered something inaudible and then continued, "The goddess Styx had faded." Gasps of goddesses were heard all around the room. "Somebody had defeated her in a fight and made her fade. Sensing the fading of its goddess, the river also started moving faster and faster. Then it completely slowed down and has been stagnant ever since. I immediately IM'ed Poseidon and gave him my permission to come in my domain. After he came, I asked him to check if there was a body in the river. As its goddess was gone, the river in nobody's domain and so it was free to be used, unlike earlier, by other gods or goddesses. Poseidon checked and told me that there was no body."

By the end everybody had understood what would have happened and so there was complete silence. Then Ares spoke up, "Well, the punk killed a goddess. So this means he is declaring war on Olympus. We should search him out and crush him, maybe send him to Tartarus."

Athena then said, "Ares, think before you speak. Perseus' master is in Tartarus itself. So if we send Percy there, won't he just come back out as easily as we sent him and come out with much more power than he already has?"

"So it is decided then. Percy is now officially an enemy of Olympus and if seen, shall be killed on sight. Artemis and her hunters will search for him in the forests, the demigods will be sent on quests and all other creatures will be warned about his presence. All Olympians will be given a conch – which you have to sound as soon as you set your sights on him." Ordered Zeus.

Poseidon then shouted, "Noooooo, he is being possessed by somebody else. We can't kill him because of somebody else. We all know that he would never do that in his own free will. Please don't kill him, I beg you brother. Please."

Zeus looked at Poseidon sadly, for he knew that if the life of Thalia was at stake he would be in the same position. But Zeus was the king of Olympus; he had to think for everybody, not just Poseidon. Even then he said, "OK, don't kill him on sight, try to capture him and bring him to Olympus. If he presents a threat then blow the conch and we will decide what to do."

There was silence after which he said, "If there is nothing else to be added…"

"In fact father, I was wondering if you could bestow immortality on my daughter, now that she is the architect of Olympus."

"Oh yes, immortality. OK then, daughter of Athena, please step forward." Annabeth was very nervous but she stood up and went in the middle of the thrones.

Then Zeus said in that booming voice of his, "Daughter of Athena, you are the architect of Olympus. As the king of Olympus, I now grant you immortality." Then he raised his hand and an electric blue orb of light came out of his arm and entered Annabeth's chest.

She then fell down.

There was more silence after which Zeus said, "Meeting Dismissed" and disappeared in a big boom of sound and a huge lightning bolt along with his wife, Hera.

Athena shrunk down to human size, picked up Annabeth and flashed out along with the other gods except Poseidon, who was sitting on his throne, crying, and Hermes, who was looking at the god of the seas with sympathy and pity.

He then walked up to him and said, "Poseidon, I know how you feel. I felt the same way when they wanted to kill my son for betraying Olympus. Percy is the strongest demigod I have ever known – both physically and mentally. If there is one person who can overcome any odds then it is him. Don't worry, uncle. Everything will be alright; it always is, in the end."

And then Hermes flashed out. Poseidon then thought – I have to be strong and start searching for him. It won't help if I just sulk all day. If the others capture him then it will not bode well for him.

And then Poseidon too flashed out. And only Hestia was left who just mumbled, "Oh Percy, my special, special boy. What has happened to you? You don't deserve any of this. Why are the fates doing this to you?"

Then she continued to take care of the hearth, deeply buried in her thoughts.

**In the Depths of Tartarus**

"Now do you give up, petty demigod?" asked 'the voice'.

"If I was so petty, then why are you so desperate to convert me to your cause?" said Nico. 'The voice' had fixed Nico's vocal cords and voice box because it liked to hear his screams when he was in pain.

However, Nico's witty retort only seemed to make 'the voice' angry because he shouted at Dr Thorn, "Put his head in the water again. Make him so desperate for a breath of air that he will give up his freedom for it."

The manticore grinned and pushed Nico's head in the water again. Nico struggled but his tortured body didn't have the power to fend off the monster.

For the past 3 days, Nico had been subjected to different kinds of tortures. On the second day of his torture he had been whipped again and then was immediately dropped in a big pot of salt and pins and the lid was closed. There were enough holes for him to breath and the screams could be heard till 2 hours after which even the manticore had pity for him.

The next day, Dr Thorn bought some water from the River Phlegethon and forced it into Nico's throat which burned all insides of Nico except the heart, the brain and the lungs. Then 'the voice' had ordered Dr Thorn to stand back as they waited for Nico to puke out the water, but Nico didn't have the stomach to do so.

Then yesterday only, 'the voice' drove Nico to the brinks of madness as it showed him visions which are too horrible to describe.

Unknown to Nico, 'the voice' wasn't torturing Nico to make him fight against the gods. 'The voice' was slowly destroying the very essence of his being, his identity and was making Nico a mindless warrior – like Perseus.

But, to control Perseus, 'the voice' had to use its essence because any amount of torturing would not have yielded any results – all thanks to Percy's fatal flaw; and also because 'it' needed some of its essence out of Tartarus.

Nico on the other hand already had some mental issues against the gods and bringing them out was quite fun for 'the voice'; mainly because of the methods that were being used.

In all 'the voice' was laying out a very intricate web of plans and deception and it only had to wait for the butterflies to get stuck in the web before the it closed down.

"Nico, it has been 4 days since I have been torturing you. Why are you resisting? I wouldn't have to do any of this if you just agreed to my demands. Please, for your sake, say yes. Don't give the manticore the pleasure of torturing you again and again." said the voice in a surprisingly worried voice.

Nico was now starting to black out in the water, but it had still heard 'the voice'. He was now desperate enough but a voice in his head was telling him to black out and not respond.

'The voice' got angry because of the lack of response and so projected one last vision in Nico's mind : of Zeus ordering Bianca to be transported to Fields of Punishment and Bianca being raped everyday to make her suffer due to her hunter's vow.

This drove Nico over the edge and he shouted yes in such a way that the pot broke and Nico fell down.

'The voice' was surprised and asked the manticore, "What did he say? What did he say just now?"

The manticore just shrugged and picked up Nico by the throat. Then he started punching him all over the body, and with every punch Nico coughed up a bit of blood.

Then 'the voice' told the manticore to stop and asked Nico, "What did you say just now?"

Nico just grunted a yes and started puking blood over the manticore's face. This angered the monster as he just threw Nico in the air and then kicked him on the face, making Nico fly to the other end of the chamber and knocking him unconscious.

'The voice' started laughing and said, "Finally! Phase 1 is complete. Now that Nico is mine, the downfall of the gods is completely ensured. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I will finally rule Olympus again, and nobody will stop me.

**Well, that is it for now.****  
><strong>**So Percy has been captured by the hunt** **but he managed to kill another hunter.****  
><strong>**Phoebe punched Percy but broke her hand.****  
><strong>**The council put out a 'capture or kill' order for Percy and Zeus also made Annabeth immortal.**

**And Nico finally said yes and gave in to the tortures of 'the voice'. Now we will see what 'the voice' has in mind.**

**Well, as nobody was able to guess the identity of the 'mysterious entity', I am giving one last chance to everybody else, but I am increasing the prize and now you will get the last chapter of this book as well as the whole first chapter of the second book.****  
><strong>**But instead of two, now only one reader will get the prize.****  
><strong>**Also,****  
><strong>**Olympus97 – no, it isn't Kronos' father, because Ouranos is a primordial and the entity is not a primordial. But nice try, why don't you guess on? Keep trying, you still have some time.**

**Hope that somebody guesses it! ****  
><strong>**Read on!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Yo fellow readers, I'm back. **

**Anyways, here is the next chapter.****  
><strong>**Read on!**

**Chapter 8**

After reaching Camp Half-Blood Argus and Phoebe immediately took out Percy from the van and carried him to the big house along with another hunter who carried the Sword of Hades. Thalia told the rest of the hunt to go to the Artemis cabin while she herself went to the beach to Iris Message Artemis about the current events.

When Chiron saw Argus and Phoebe come in with a masked man, and another hunter bring in a sword as black as Hades, he was surprised and shocked. He immediately kept down the book he was reading and went to the trio to help them set Percy on a sofa.

He then asked Phoebe, "Who is he? And is the sword the boy's?"

Phoebe replied, "Chiron, he is Perseus Jackson, the murderer of countless beings – immortal, mortal and semi-mortal. And yes, the sword is his."

Chiron's eyes widened in surprise and he asked, "How did you manage to capture him? Did any of you get hurt? And where is Lady Artemis?"

Phoebe recounted the whole incident and then spat, "This _boy_managed to kill many of our hunters and injure yet many more. But after quite a battle we managed to capture him with this celestial bronze rope. Lady Artemis had gone for a council meeting to Olympus.

Chiron nodded, and then said, "We can't let the campers know about him. Take the body and dump it in the attic, nobody ever goes there these days. I will Iris Message the go..."

Phoebe interrupted Chiron's train of thought, "No need to do that Chiron, Thalia has already gone to Iris Message Lady Artemis. She will be back in a few minutes."

At that moment Thalia came in the big house, "I Iris Messaged Lady Artemis. She is coming here along with dad, Lord Hades and Poseidon. They will be here any instant."

Just as she spoke that there were 4 flashes of light and Lord Zeus, Lord Poseidon, Lord Hades and Lady Artemis appeared beside them.

Chiron and Argus immediately bowed to them and Chiron said, "Lady Artemis, Lord Zeus, Lord Poseidon, Lord Hades."

All the said gods and goddess nodded and Zeus said to Chiron, "Chiron, call the cabin counselors for a meeting. We have got another war on our hands."

Chiron's face was ash-stricken. He was completely white and didn't move until Poseidon banged his trident on the floor, leaving a small crater behind. Chiron snapped out of his trance and at once trotted out of the building, calling out to Thalia, "Thalia, you go to the cabins of the goddesses; I will call the male ones."

Thalia nodded and ran out. In a matter of minutes all counselors were assembled around the ping-pong table and at the head sat Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and Artemis on their ready-made thrones. Zeus then stood to address the table, "Children, I come with grave news. You all know about Perseus Jackson and how he was ….. sent into coma by Kronos?"

All the demigods nodded in assent. Zeus continued, "You also know that Perseus was declared missing on the day of the victory celebration?"

All the demigods nodded again. He then said, "Well, he was found." Katie then looked straight in the eyes of Zeus and he understood that she already knew.

Gasps of surprise, shock and anger rose in the room. Clarisse banged her fist on the ping-pong table and shouted, "Why weren't we told about Prissy's whereabouts earlier?" Then she looked at Chiron and asked, "Chiron, did you know about this? Why didn't you tell us?"

Chiron, unable to answer, just looked away and Hades spoke up instead, "Daughter of Ares, the condition in which we found Percy was not suitable for you all to handle at the moment."

Travis then shouted, "We fought a war. We saw our own brothers and sisters being butchered by monsters. I think we are pretty strong enough to handle any kind of news by now."

Artemis shouted at everybody to be silent before Hades recounted all events of the past few days, but skipping the events of that very day. Nobody said a word or uttered a sound as they all heard what Percy had done and what had been done to him, how Nico was dragged into Tartarus and how Styx was forced to fade.

"Where is Princess now?" asked Clarisse, after everything was said and done.

"Princess?" asked Zeus, puzzled.

"I mean, where is Annabeth?" repeated Clarisse.

"The last we saw of her was when she fainted after being granted immortality and Athena flashed off with her to somewhere." said Poseidon, who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time.

"And what about Percy, where is he now?" asked Jake Mason.

"Well about that ….. " Chiron signaled Argus and they both went towards the stairs and up.

After a few minutes, they came down with a body on Chiron's back. The body in question was wearing a mask on the face, a hunting coat which reached to the waist, a sweater beneath the coat and a shirt beneath the sweater as well as jeans and worn boots. All gods stood up and stared at the body in anger and surprise, except Poseidon who was very sad and miserable.

The demigods stumbled back in disgust and one or two of them even puked at the amount of ichor which was stained on Percy's shirt and which was still dripping out. They all were silent until Katie asked, "Is this Percy?"

Artemis nodded stiffly and said, "He is the male who killed many hunters and women alike. He even killed his own mother, the little …. "

"ARTEMIS, MY SON DID NOT DO ANY SUCH THING. HE WAS AND IS POSSESSED. YOU BETTER REMEMBER THAT BEFORE YOU STARTED POINTING FINGERS." shouted Poseidon.

"POSEIDON! Calm down and sit. It's of no use to shout at others. What's done is done. We have to concentrate on the present scenario." said Hades.

"OK, now that that matter is resolved, we have to do something about our young Perseus. Does anybody have any suggestions?" asked Zeus.

Nobody said anything. All the counselors were still shocked at seeing Percy's condition. They all truly loved Percy, even Clarisse, so they didn't want any harm to come to him. Suddenly, Hades looked at the couch and saw his sword.

He cried out and said, "My sword – there it is." He then jogged to the couch and started admiring his sword. Zeus coughed, "Perhaps you would like to enlighten the demigods about this new weapon of yours?"

Hades thought for a few moments then shrugged and said, "Thalia knows this tale better than me; after all she, Perseus and Nico went to the underworld to find the sword for me."

"WHAT! Why wasn't I told that my own daughter was used in a heinous scheme to help Hades' plot to take over my throne?" screeched Zeus.

Thalia came to Hades' rescue, "Relax Dad." Then she went on to tell everybody how the trio of Percy, Nico and herself found the Sword of Hades and ended by saying, "Uncle had no part in the making of this sword. It was actually Persephone who made this sword, without the permission of Hades. She wanted equal status for her husband which I say wasn't wrong on her part. After all, uncle has a;ways been considered inferior among the Big 3. In addition, Percy managed to 'defeat' Iapetus."

Zeus was surprised to say the least as Poseidon commented, "Leave it be brother, if you can have a powerful master bolt and me a trident, then Hades has full right to have a powerful weapon of his own. I approve."

"Of course you would, after all even you must be in line to take over my throne. I tell you, this sword can bring the end of Olympus, if in the wrong hands. It can easily make an immortal fade. Even if we set aside the fact that Hades won't use it for the wrong methods, we can all note how Perseus caused so much destruction with it. He managed to make Styx fade; which would have otherwise been impossible, for him."

Everybody was forced to think as Zeus actually made a good point. Hades himself thought that it was very unfair, so he said, "Well, if that's the case, then Zeus' Bolt should also be disposed off. Everybody must remember how much dispute it caused when it was stolen, even though it wasn't his own fault."

Everybody agreed and Zeus seethed that Hades had managed to save his sword, for now. Artemis scowled, "We should give eternal punishment to Perseus, he killed so many of my hunters. He doesn't deserve to live."

There were cries of protest all around the room as Katie shouted, "He saved all of Olympus mostly by himself. And you want to condemn your own savior?" Artemis was about to retort when Percy got up from the table and stood up. He then head butted Travis in the head and it burst open. Everybody stepped back in surprise and fear but the gods.

Artemis ran towards Percy and they both crashed into the wall, thereby breaking it. Percy rolled up tried to stand up but couldn't. So he started rolling away with the gods and Chiron giving him chase. Zeus fired his Master Bolt at Percy which resulted in a big explosion after which Artemis stabbed the back of his head with her knife. Percy lay still and didn't get up again.

Chiron carried him back to the big house and mumbled, "He is dangerous even when he is bound by ropes. I wonder what he can do when he's free. We need to do something and do something quick." He then said loudly, "Connor, take your brother to the infirmary and get him stitched up by the Apollo kids."

"He will be unconscious for a while. You put him back wherever you put him and a day later one of the minor gods will come with extra protection to take him to Olympus. I used a lot of my power in that strike, but it barely seemed to harm him." Zeus glowered.

Hades scoffed, "When the River Styx can't erode him and my sword can't absorb his life force, you think a lightning bolt will do any harm. HA!"

Zeus decided to stay quiet this time. "Chiron, get a better place to hold such meetings." said Poseidon, before flashing out of there along the other gods.

Chiron carried Percy back to the attic and the other demigods also dispersed. But they all had one question on their minds, "what now?"

**In the Atlantean Library**

Poseidon appeared in Atlantis and was going to his bedroom when he saw Athena sitting on a couch, reading a book. "I didn't expect you to be here. Reading another book?"

Athena raised her head and smiled, "Well, you did give me 24x7 access to your library, didn't you? So why not take advantage of it? And the books here are fantastic, as I have told you before"

Poseidon nodded, then asked, "Where's your daughter? Is she handling immortality well?"

"Well, she is currently in my palace on Olympus, resting. Once she's given the final okay by Apollo, she will be taken to Camp Half-Blood where she will have a vacation of sorts. After that, the designing and reconstruction of Olympus will begin." Athena explained.

"Looks like you have it all planned out. Anyways, did you find out any information about the identity of the entity in Tartarus? After all, you come here whenever you have free time." stated Poseidon.

"Well, I have reached to a few conclusions." said Athena. "That was the main reason I was here: waiting for you. Walk with me." Athena then got up and walked with Poseidon towards the library.

"As we both know, the titans weren't the first beings. Not even Gaea. It was completely different. I did have some trouble since I didn't know where to start, but now at least I can show something." explained Athena.

They had both reached the library by now and Athena led Poseidon to a shelf labeled 'Miscellaneous'. She picked out a book which was unnamed and opened a page. Then she handed the book to Poseidon, her finger on a certain paragraph and said, "Read".

_"At the beginning there was only Khaos (Air), Nyx (Night), dark Erebos (Darkness), and deep Tartaros (Hell's Pit). Ge (Earth), Aer (Air) and Ouranos (Heaven) had no existence. Firstly, black-winged Nyx (Night) laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebos (Darkness), and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros (Desire) with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated [or fertilised] in deep Tartaros (Hell-Pit) with dark Khaos (Air), winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race [the birds], which was the first to see the light."_

"Now read this" said Athena, turning the page and pointing to another paragraph.

_"Ere land and sea and the all-covering sky were made, in the whole world the countenance of nature was the same, all one, well named Chaos, a raw and undivided mass, naught but a lifeless bulk, with warring seeds of ill-joined elements compressed together. No Titan [Helios the Sun] as yet poured light upon the world, no waxing Phoebe [Selene the Moon] her crescent filled anew, nor in the ambient air yet hung the earth, self-balanced, equipoised, nor Amphitrite's [the Sea's] arms embraced the long far margin of the land. Though there were land and sea and air, the land no foot could tread, no creature swim the sea, the air was lightless; nothing kept its form, all objects were at odds, since in one mass cold essence fought with hot, and moist with dry, and hard with soft and light with things of weight. This strife a Deus (God) [Phanes or Thesis?], with nature's blessing, solved; who severed land from sky and sea from land, and from the denser vapours set apart the ethereal sky; and, each from the blind heap resolved and freed, he fastened in its place appropriate in peace and harmony. The fiery weightless force of heaven's vault flashed up and claimed the topmost citadel; next came the air in lightness and in place; the thicker earth with grosser elements sank burdened by its weight; lowest and last the girdling waters pent the solid globe. So into shape whatever god it was reduced the primal matter and prescribed its several parts. Then first, to make the earth even on every side, he rounded it into a mighty disc, then bade the sea extend and rise under the rushing winds, and gird the shores of the encircled earth."_

"These are 2 theories concerning the formation of the world and of a being having much more power than anybody or anything. But this, Khaos or Chaos, faded after creating the world. It also would have no reason to attack Olympus." explained Athena. Poseidon just nodded.

"Chaos also created the Protogenai or the Primordial Beings like Gaea, Tartarus, Nyx etc. And the union between Ouranos and Gaea was the beginning of the titans. But we both know that. What we didn't know was that most of the Primordial Beings faded, giving the reins of the world to the titans.

Poseidon was quite and had a thoughtful look on his face, after which he asked, "Why exactly did the Primordial Beings fade?"

"Well, I'm not so sure but my guess is that because they felt they were not needed anymore, also they were too powerful to fully exist in their true forms and so had to fade. One Primordial Being can defeat the whole Olympian Council in minutes, without breaking a sweat." explained Athena.

"Then it's a good thing that Gaea is a very sleepy goddess." said Poseidon.

Athena laughed and then said, "The titans Kronos, Hyperion, Krios, Oceanus, Iapetus, Prometheus, and Atlas were defeated in this war. So the only options are Perses or Pallas. But Perses was locked up so deep in the depths of Tartarus and with so less power in the first titan war that not even Tartarus could bring him back. As for Pallas, well he is the husband of Styx who is a part of Hades, so even he is not an option."

"Well, I can offer you only one piece of advice: there is a whole library out there and this is just the one book. Keep searching." Poseidon then laughed and went away to his bedroom, leaving Athena in a frustrated mood.

"I think the entity is one of titans only, after all, only a few took part in the First Titan War and even fewer in the second. It is so confusing. Damn!" Athena thought to herself.

**In Tartarus**

"The son of Hades is now ready. He has no memory and no identity of his own. He just follows my orders and will do anything I say. As my champion, Perseus, has been captured, it is time to bring the knight into play." This was the train of thought of 'THE VOICE'.

Nico's sword had been broken by the fall in Tartarus; so he was given a new one made from the essence of Tartarus itself. But 'THE VOICE' also taught Nico to control shadows and use them as armor and to form weapons. 'THE VOICE' had also given Nico better control of shadows and ghosts. Now Nico could bend shadows to lift himself in the air. He could order ghosts to come out and absorb them to inherit their powers.

For instance, if he called out Achilles and absorbed him, then Nico would become a much better swordsman and have better skills with spears too. The experience would also come in handy. If Nico called out Theseus, then Nico would get intense knowledge which would rival that of Athena's. Bu the drawback was that the ghosts could only be absorbed for a short period of time, after which they would leave, and Nico would get very tired.

Also, Nico was still tortured everyday just for the amusement of 'THE VOICE' and also to keep him in control. Just a few hours ago, the manticore had stuck his finger in Nico's eyes and took them both out. Then he bought 2 snakes and let them in Nico's body through the eye holes.

After Nico screamed for a few hours, as the snakes ate his insides, Dr Thorn just pushed the eyeballs back in their sockets and Nico had to literally puke the snakes back out. The 'THE VOICE healed Nico and the torture was over.

Right now, Nico was sparring with the manticore with a sword made of shadows. He ran at Dr Thorn and formed 2 spears made of shadows and threw them straight at him. But the manticore just caught them and they dissolved back into shadows.

Then Nico used the shadows to raise himself in the air launch straight at the monster. He struck at Dr Thorn's head however the monster just caught the sword and threw it over his shoulder.

But Nico had already left the grip of the sword and formed a new one in his other hand. By the time the manticore looked back, Nico just touched the pointed end at the mouth - which was the vulnerable point. The manticore knew he had lost, after all Nico was standing on a big platform, formed by shadows with his sword, threatening to kill him with one strike.

The manticore blinked and punched Nico in the face before dissolving into black dust. In Tartarus monsters could travel anywhere they wanted and they used a method similar to that of the god's teleportation.

After the manticore was beaten, 'THE VOICE' said, "Bravo my demigod, bravo. I don't think anybody has defeated a manticore so quickly and easily ever. 7 seconds. Very good. But listen closely now because I have a mission for you. This is a very dangerous mission as you would lose your immortality the minute you left Tartarus."

Nico just knelt and said, "I would do your bidding no matter what, Master. Just say the word and I will be off."

"And that is what I expect of you. Then listen carefully, you have to go to Camp Half Blood and free my champion, Perseus. He has been captured and he is of vital importance to my plans. Free him and then join him on his mission."

Nico bowed deeply and said, "As you wish master. When do I go?"

'THE VOICE' just laughed and said, "Now my child, now." And then Nico transformed into a black swirl of dust (think of the death-eaters in Harry Potter flying in their forms of black dust) and flew up till he reached the surface, exactly from where he had been dragged into Tartarus. The black swirl again changed into Nico, who was left standing with his head bowed down.

When he looked up, he had a maniacal grin on his face and his eyes were fully black.

**And that my fellow readers, is the 8th****chapter. I have to say, this one was quite boring to write as there was not much action.**

**Anyways have patience, because the twist is coming very soon. There is a lot of action coming and it involves both Nico and Percy.**

**So until the next chapter.****  
><strong>**Read on!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I would say that this is a filler chapter and is terribly boring. If you want to, then skip the whole portion and read the last part about Nico. If you get bored reading this and want to scream at me for such a chapter, you are free to do so. Also, would like to thank _Tagicheartbreak _and _L__ioness Deity for being such avid reviewers._**

**This is the 9th chapter.****  
><strong>**Enjoy.**

**Chapter 9**

**A few hours after the departure of gods from Camp Half Blood…**

Annabeth was in a van once again, this time alone, as Argus drew towards Camp Half Blood. She longed to see her friends, her siblings, but her mind was conquered by only one thought, "Oh Percy, I miss you so much, please come back."

Even though her mind knew that it was completely impossible for everything to be normal again, her heart was not listening at all. And she was now immortal, living forever. She would design Olympus for the next few decades and always live with the pain of losing Percy.

(Flashback)

After Athena had flashed them both from the meeting and taken Annabeth to her palace, she had been unconscious for 11-12 hours. Then, when she woke up she found Apollo sitting on a chair near her, reading a magazine.

He had greeted her in a cheerful voice, "Good Morning, sleeping beauty. You have been out for quite some time. Of course, it was expected, now that you are immortal. Congratulations are in order I guess? Anyways, you are completely fine now. Your mother told me to put you in one of the vans which will take you to camp. Come on."

Apollo had then led her to one of the vans and told Argus to drive safely. Argus just nodded and they were on their way. This time though Annabeth reached camp without any incident.

(Flashback ends)

When she reached the border, she noticed a demigod about 12-13 years old look at her and then run back into camp. She was very surprised as she expected a warm welcome, not a cold shoulder.

But she ignored it and started going to the big house. On the way she was met by many stares and she started to feel uncomfortable. Someone suddenly bumped into her shoulder and said, "So, princess you have finally come. Hope you're enjoying immortality."

She turned and saw Clarisse standing and having an amused expression on her face. So she asked, "You seem very happy today? Is there anything special that I'm missing? Everybody is staring at me like I'm a freak or something."

"You can say that. Come on; let me escort you to the big house. I don't want to miss the show for anything." mused Clarisse.

Annabeth was surprised – Clarisse offering to _escort _her to the big house? Something was seriously wrong.

But Annabeth wasn't complaining, yet. They both walked to the big house together and met Thalia in the way. Thalia hugged Annabeth and said, "Hey Annie, my sweet little sister, how have you been? How are you feeling now that you're a full immortal?"

"Well, you know how it feels. You feel much more powerful and like eternity is just out there for me to grab. All my dreams can now finally be fulfilled with no restraint." said Annabeth, smiling in the end.

"So where are you going?" asked Thalia.

Clarisse answered first, "I'm personally escorting Princess here to the big house. Why don't you tag along?"

Thalia glared at Clarisse while the said person just smirked. Then Thalia sighed, dropping her shoulders and said, "She has to know someday, and the sooner the better. I'll come too. She might need a supportive shoulder, not just an audience."

Annabeth was getting irritated that the 2 demigods were talking about her as if she wasn't there. Then she said, "Hello, I'm still here. Mind telling me what's going on? Or am I still invisible to you?"

Thalia just said, "Come on, let's go." Then they all reached the big house and met Chiron inside. Chiron and Annabeth hugged and then Chiron asked, "So how are you feeling now?"

Annabeth replied, "Great, abso….."

"Oh stop this conservation now. I'm getting sick of hearing the same thing again and again. Just show her Chiron, show her what we got yesterday." interrupted Clarisse. Then turning to Annabeth, she said, "The hunters gave our camp a gift."

"Gift? Since when did the hunters start giving gifts to anybody? Thals, why didn't you tell me about it?" asked a confused Annabeth.

Thalia looked away and murmured, "You will see. Just show it to her Chiron. Get it over with."

Chiron protested, "Child, it may not be fit for you to see this just right now. You should go to your cain and have some rest, maybe some food before you see this."

Annabeth refused adamantly, "No Chiron, I want to see this 'gift' right now and nothing will make me change my decision.

Chiron sighed and motioned Annabeth to follow him. Annabeth went beside him with Clarisse and Thalia following suit. They all went upstairs and Chiron entered the attic first with Annabeth almost jumping to see what it was.

They all reached at the other end of the room, where the previous oracle used to be placed, to see another body placed with a celestial bronze rope tightly wound around it. Annabeth was disappointed and said, "The hunters gifted us a corpse?"

Clarisse started laughing and then said, "Oh, please let me tell her, let me tell her." Chiron silenced her with a glare and then said, in the kindest voice he could muster, "Annabeth, dear, this … this is the body of Perseus Jackson."

Annabeth was quite. Nobody spoke and then Clarisse burst out, laughing at Annabeth's expression and was soon rolling on the floor. Annabeth couldn't form proper words and she was stuck at, "Th …Th…. Th…"

Thalia then told her everything about how Percy was hit by the van, how he slammed Thalia on the ground and killed a hunter, how he fought the whole hunt with ease and how he was captured with sheer power, teamwork and cunning.

Annabeth was still speechless when she fell on the ground, crying and saying, "Percy, Percy, oh my Percy. Why can't you ever get the break you deserve?" Annabeth was curled up on the floor and only looked at Percy's body once to start sobbing again.

Then she got up and clutched Percy's coat collar and said, "I will not leave you. You maybe Olympus' enemy but I will stay with you. After all, I have all of eternity to do so."

Chiron gently but firmly removed Annabeth from Percy and said, "Dear, he might wake up and cause more destruction then he already has. Earlier today, Percy was completely bound but managed to bust open Travis' head with one hit. He has become very powerful and you need to know that there is no hope for _our _Percy to come back. I'm sorry."

Then he said to Thalia, "Take her to her cabin, she might feel comfortable among her own siblings. Clarisse, from now you are the new sword master of the camp. Now that Annabeth will be designing Olympus, she won't be able to take part in camp affairs and will most likely live on Olympus, and as Percy is ….. no more, you are also the new head counselor of Camp Half Blood. Congratulations."

Clarisse was shocked, but was able to mutter a thank you before shouting and running out of the attic, while Thalia carried Annabeth out. Chiron sighed and mumbled, "Percy, why does this always happen to you?"

Suddenly, Percy's eyes opened and he sat up straight. Percy tugged at the rope but the effort took him out, again. Chiron then hurried out of the attic and said, "Must tell Zeus, Percy is already beginning to stir. Must warn the gods."

Just as Chiron went out the shadows begin to swirl and gather in another corner of the room as Nico stepped out. He had been in the room for quite some time and had heard the whole conversation.

When the attic was completely empty, Nico came near Percy and looked him over. Nico was not impressed by Percy's condition and murmured, "Pathetic, totally pathetic. I didn't come all the way for _this_, did I?"

_**(Flashback)**_

Nico had no memory of his time before Tartarus. According to the information in his brain, given by 'the voice', he was an orphan who had been thrown into Tartarus by his parents and 'the voice' had saved it.

Nico also didn't remember anything about Camp Half Blood, so he just shadow travelled to the borders, and almost put the mission in jeopardy by being seen by a kid. He quickly hid in the shadows and girl thought she had imagined it.

She must be one of those who patrol the camp – thought Nico. He then slunk all the way to the pavilion to search for this attic in the 'big house'.

But he instead was met by a sight of 70-80 demigods having lunch. So he turned to go the other way and stumbled onto a demigod. The demigod's eyes widened in surprise and he managed to say, "Oh m….." before Nico cleaved the boy's head with his sword.

The sword got stuck, so he put his leg on the demigod's face and pulled. The boy's blood was on the sword which Nico licked clean. Then he dragged the body into a big barn with many weapons just put inside with no categorization.

Nico came out and saw a big building; the only one which was 4 stories tall, in the distance and guessed this was the 'big house'. He looked around to see that no one was around and then slightly opened the door. He then manipulated the shadows to check if there was any shadow of a living being.

The only living being was a bug which was sitting on a bulb. He then walked in but heard voices coming from his behind so he ran up and into a dark room which had many odd objects like a Minotaur's horn, a broken crown, etc.

But he just ignored them and hid in the shadows. After about half and hour he saw a Pegasus and 3 girls enter the room. They had a long conversation and then one of the girls dropped on the floor and then grabbed a body which was sitting on the window sill.

So this is the body of this_ Perseus _– thought Nico – he is quite tightly bound by ropes. Must be celestial bronze ropes. And I have just the perfect weapon to cut through them. After a while the other creatures left the room and he walked out.

_**(Flashback ends)**_

But he unsheathed his sword made of Tartarus' essence and in a clean strike, cut off Percy's chains. Then he lifted Percy's body on his shoulder and tried to shadow travel away. Only to drop down on his knee and making Percy fall on the ground with a thud.

He felt a pounding pain in his head and 'the voice' said, "You do not have to go outside the camp. Wait for Percy to wake up, than start killing the demigods. Anyways, shadow travelling continuously from Tartarus to Camp Half Blood has completely drained you. For now, you can't use any of your powers to even save your life."

Nico mentally nodded his head and then dragged Percy to the corner of the room where he had been hiding and then sat down to meditate.

**The next chapter will be reeeealy long and will be one of the main chapters of the story. That is one of the reasons I have posted Chapter 8 and 9 just one day apart.**

**Anyways, don't forget to read and review. Your criticism is my motivation.**

**Ringmasterisation signing off****  
><strong>**Until the Chapter 10.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm baaaaaaaaaaack. Anyways, here's an extra long chapter with a lot of action involved. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 10**

Patience is a virtue. It is a quality which doesn't come easy to many. Demigods, mortals, all are impatient in some way or the other. Gods have been alive for many millennia so they have learnt to be patient.

Demigods have ADHD which is inbuilt in them to make them battle hardened and to sense any kind of attacks. This is one of the traits which protects demigods.

Nico was getting very impatient while waiting for Percy to get up. He had waited for 3 hours for Percy but only got frustrated by the minute. After meditating for 2 hours he had reached a trance but then his patience ran out.

Even after all the powers he had obtained from 'the voice' he still couldn't be patient, but one couldn't blame him. And being a child of the big three, his ADHD was at extreme, much more than normal demigods.

He started getting angry and nudged Percy but even Nico with his increased powers was quite wary of Percy. After all 'the voice' had told Nico about the deeds of Percy and what he was capable of. Nico knew that anybody who was capable of making a goddess fade and defeat the whole hunt in a fight easily was very dangerous.

After another long hour, Percy's hand shook. Then Percy suddenly sat up and clutched his head with his hands. Then he got up slowly with his back facing Nico and started shaking his hand. Then he raised it and tilted his head, staring at the hand continuously.

Nico's eyes widened as he expected something weird to happen. But after a few minutes he felt stupid looking at Percy so he whispered, "Hey Perseus, look here. What the hell are you doing?"

Percy immediately straightened up and turned to look at Nico, the latter stepped back in the stare of Percy. Percy walked up to Nico and stared in his eyes. Percy was taller than Nico and this added to the nervousness of the already growing fear of Nico.

Nico squeaked, "My name is Nico and I'm here to aid you in the mission of killing all demigods." Percy just punched Nico, who fell down, and then Percy kicked Nico in the gut.

Nico groaned in pain but managed to keep his voice low so that nobody could hear them. He then got up, shook his head and said, "You wanna do it this way, then fine, let's do it this way."

He then ran towards Percy and punched him in the face, but pulled his fist back in pain and clutched it with his other hand. He then said, "Ouch!What kind of a mask is that? Ouch!"

He then kicked Percy in the ribs and to his surprise Percy caught his leg and threw him onto the ground. But Nico jumped up, unsheathed his sword and slashed at Percy's arm. Then he stabbed Percy in the stomach but Percy didn't react. Even a sword made out of the essence of Tartarus couldn't affect Percy.

Percy just stood there while Nico kept twisting the sword, trying to bring some pain, any pain to Percy. Percy then grabbed Nico's throat and lifted him in the air. Nico struggled and punched and kicked in the air but to no avail. Percy would have killed Nico had it not been for a sudden and hard pain in his head.

He dropped Nico and clutched his head. Nico himself coughed and gasped for air. Then 'the voice' said in the heads of the warriors of the dark, "Fools, you don't have to fight between yourself. You are a team who fight against the gods and their children. Stop this idiotic fight and start killing the demigods."

Then it was all silent. Nico got up and shook his head, then cautiously approached Percy and pointed at his sword, "My sword. If I could just take it out ….." Percy pulled out the sword from his stomach and dropped it on the ground. Percy just kept staring at Nico and Nico stared back. The contest ended when Nico said, "We have to get out of the big-house and I don't want to waste my energy in shadow-travelling. So we will have to be stealthy. Follow me."

He then picked up his sword, walked out of the attic while Percy slowly followed him. They descended down the stairs but Nico raised his hand to motion Percy to stop as he was checking the room for any presences. Suddenly a picture of a centaur reading a book flashed in his mind and Nico knew that entering the room now would endanger the mission.

There was a centaur in the room reading a book. Nico motioned Percy to step back and they both waited for this being to leave.

**Line Breaker**

After showing Percy's body to Annabeth, Chiron had gone down and tried to forget the recent events by settling down with a novel and a cup of coffee. After having a peaceful time of nearly 5 hours he heard a crash upstairs in the attic.

He sighed, wishing for a vacation from all the demigod troubles and the situation with Percy. He readied his bow and arrow and then went near the stairs to check it out when, from the corner of his eye he saw a bright purple flash with the smell of wine vines in the air.

He turned around with a sigh and got ready to welcome Dionysus, who was sentenced to the demigod camp for a century.

Chiron was surprised to see the condition of Dionysus, because the wine god was drunk when he was not supposed to be so. Chiron's curiosity got the better of him and he asked the god about his state.

"Mr. D, where have you been for the past few days when you were supposed to be here? And why are you drunk? What if your father gets to know about it?"

The god stumbled around for a while and then shook his head hard, as if to shake of the drunkenness. Then he answered, "I have been in Olympus the whole time, and it was lovely. I had so much fun. But now I want to sleep. Give me a bed"

But Chiron asked again, "But how were you on Olympus for so long without Lord Zeus getting to know about it?"

Mr. D then said, "Oh, I will tell you everything right now Chiron. You will be fascinated to hear my adventures."

**Flashback (Dionysus POV)**

When the victory celebrations ended and the emergency council meeting began I was drunk the whole time, because father gave me the permission to drink just for that time so I took full advantage of the situation.

As it is I can't be of much use to this situation regarding Peter Johnson and father was too worked up on it along with Uncle Poseidon, Hades and Artemis.

I knew that father would concentrate more on Peter and less on me so I sneaked back to my palace and stayed there for the whole time. I kept drinking for my personal stash of wine and I drank till the next time I got a message from Hermes to attend another emergency council meeting.

I attended all the council meetings but I never said anything so nobody looked at me. After the meeting I went to Aphrodite's palace. I found her in the verandah, giving a makeover to a nymph.

"Hey Aphrodite, give me a potion that disguises my drunken smell and makes me look suitable for council meetings."

She didn't say anything at first and then, "Go inside my palace and wait in the living room. I will see you there in a few minutes."

I thought I should argue but then I quietly went inside. Her palace was all pink with pictures of her in all types of poses with numerous men. I sat on the couch near a small table which had another makeover set on it.

After a while she came in, dressed in a long a gown with a lot of make-up. I went straight to the point, "I want a potion that disguises my breath and also a makeover which makes me look suitable for the council meetings. There are a lot of emergencies these days. So the makeover should last. I have a golden opportunity to enjoy wine and I don't want to let it go."

After a few moments Aphrodite said, "You do look disgusting. I see you tried to use godly energy to disguise your drunkenness but you are also getting very exhausted because of it. A makeover is easy; I will do it for you. But what will you do for me in return?"

I should have known that she would ask something in return but didn't know what to give. While I was thinking she said, "If you think I would do it for free then you are mistaken, my fellow Olympian."

I muttered angrily, "You know, I can always go to Hecate for potions."

She then said with a shrug, "Yes you can, but her prices are exorbitant and she only does free work when the whole council tells her to do so. So you either face the wrath of your father or you give me something in exchange for my help."

I knew that my bluff had been called but I had nothing to give her so I just sighed and said, "What do you want from me?"

"Well right now, I don't have a need for anything ….but … well, I want two things from you. One is very easy and the other depends on your abilities. Do you accept?" asked Aphrodite.

I replied uneasily, "Ok, if that is what it takes? What do I have to do?"

She just grinned and said, "You are the god of madness, so you can control somebody's mind. I want you to control my husband, Hephaestus's mind and make him destroy all the traps he has laid out for me and Ares."

I was shocked. She was asking me to manipulate and then erase an Olympians memory. "I can't do that. It is impossible. Hephaestus is an Olympian, entering his mind is not going to be easy."

"Even your makeover isn't going to be easy" retorted Aphrodite.

"Oh come on, you give somebody or the other a makeover every day."I whined.

"Do you want one or not?" asked Aphrodite, albeit harshly and then she started glaring at me.

I just sighed and then shook my head and said, "What's the other thing you want?"

Aphrodite glared at me for a few more minutes and then a coy smile appeared on her face. "Well you see, Ares is quite busy these days and doesn't have much time for me. He keeps on training the whole time as he wants to fight Percy and take revenge for his humiliation. And this has caused me to be a bit …. tense these past few days."

I was thoroughly confused and she must have seen the look on my face because she continued, "Well, I was hoping that I would find some release somehow and the usual massages just don't cut it. So I am wondering if you can help me."

I was still confused but now I was speechless too. I still didn't get the meaning of her words and she must have guessed that because she just huffed and came up to me and kissed me. I was very surprised and then she broke the kiss. "Now do you know what I want?"

I kept grinning while she pulled me to her bedroom. But then I asked, "What if Ares gets to know?"

"Don't worry about that warhead, he won't know a thing and besides he will listen to almost any lie I tell him. You think about the present." Aphrodite winked.

**(After a few hours ….)**

When I later left the palace my drunken breath was gone and I didn't even smell. All this was the work of Aphrodite. She would do the rest when the second task was complete.

I knew that erasing Hephaestus' memories would be very tough because he was an Olympian. But the effort could be reduced if his mind would be in a weakened state.

So I took my best bottle of champagne and went to the forges of Olympus. I stood in front of his palace door but couldn't enter as I needed his permission.

So I said, "Iris, I want to talk to Hephaestus." We gods didn't need to pay a drachma like the demigods. We got free Iris Messaging for as long as we want.

A small mist formed in front of me and soon Hephaestus' image came up. As always he was at his desk working on some piece of machinery. I said, "Hephaestus, let me come into your palace right now. I want to talk to you."

Hephaestus kept tinkering with his machinery but then grunted, "I give you permission to come in my palace."

I smirked and then went into the palace. The god of blacksmiths had a big palace but it was all covered with soot and dust, and there were pieces of machineries scattered all over.

I went to the inside forges where the entire Cyclops workforce got up from their work, bowed to me and then got back to their work.

I walked straight towards Hephaestus and then said, "Hey brother, I was thinking that as you keep working all day you must get tired sometime or the other. So I say that we should go back to my palace and have some brother to brother time. Just you and me and a bottle of my best champagne as company."

I could see that Hephaestus was surprised, and why shouldn't he be? It was the first time in forever that I had ever told anything of this sort to him. He looked at me and then kept staring.

"Dionysus, are you alright? Did you just say that we have some brother to brother time?" said Hephaestus, shocked.

"Yeah, I have figured that with another war on the brink it would be a good time to spend some quality time with family. And the first god who came to my mind was you. So come on, let's drink some champagne and have some fun." lied Dionysus.

Hephaestus again had a look of concentration on his face but he agreed with little hesitation. Then we went to my palace where my powers would be stronger and nobody would see me drinking wine, especially father.

I made him sit on the couch and then went waved my hand to make 2 golden glasses appear. I then poured the drink and waited for the fun to begin.

**(After 4 Hours …)**

I had successfully gotten Hephaestus drunk and I could see that his current mental state was weak enough to be brainwashed.

I snapped my fingers and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Then I closed my eyes and felt my essence enter his mind.

There were actual images of machines and automatons roaming here and there in his head. I then searched for all memories related to Aphrodite and I could feel the pain that Hephaestus felt all the time because of Aphrodite's various affairs.

Heartbreak, betrayal, depression, self-pity and much more. All this made me want to cry, but I needed to do this quick.

I then searched for memories related to Aphrodite and Ares. I felt the emotions anger, fury and hate.

I kept searching till I came upon the memories of the traps that have been set up for all time. I was surprised at their simplicity yet the humiliation they would cause.

I then decided that I had spent a lot of time so I copied the memories in my mind and then deleted the original in the Hephaestus' brain.

I then came out of his mind and sat down gasping. I was exhausted but the mission was finally complete. But I felt sad, betraying my half-brother like that.

So I put a spell on him that made sure that he would remember the traps only if I wanted it to be so. Then I went to Aphrodite's palace and gave her the memories.

She took me to her dressing room which was huge. Then she started the work and after a few minutes she said, "There. It is all done now. Nobody should be able to know that you have been drinking from the past few days except for me, of course. You are free to go now."

"Wait" I asked, "Should be? You mean somebody can see through all this?"

Aphrodite just said, "Well, there is always a margin of error which even I can't avoid."

I nodded and then flashed out to my palace to see my father standing there with his arms crossed. He glared at me and I could only gulp.

He then said in an icy cold voice, "Where were you for the past few days?"

I stuttered, "Ol…..Olym…Olym…."

"Olympus. Even though you are banished you dare to disobey my command and decide to stay in Olympus. And what have you …. What have you put on your face?"

He snapped his fingers and the makeover came of showing my true drunken self. He then exploded, "You have been drinking wine behind my back. Do you think this all is a joke? Our very existence is at a threat. Perseus has become very powerful and his power keeps growing. Already a goddess has been made to fade and his barrage has just begun. Let me tell you this Dionysus, you are treading on thin ice. I will forgive you this one time but if this incident repeats itself then your banishment from Olympus will be extended to a millennium. Now get out of my sight."

I flashed out as fast as I could and came to the camp.

**(Flashback Over)**

"Well, your adventure had its ups and downs. For now you should sleep and have rest. You are lucky your father doesn't know about the escapade with Hephaestus …. yet." said Chiron.

By the time Chiron stopped speaking Dionysus was already asleep.

**Line Breaker**

As soon as Chiron took Dionysus inside Nico said to Percy, "Come on, now's our chance. We must get out of here."

Both the warriors slunk out of there though in Percy's case it was more of normal walking but even then there was not much voice made.

After exiting the big house Nico closed his eyes to scout the area using the shadows of the vegetation and the cabins as his tools. After a few moments he opened his eyes and said, "Right about now all demigods are eating their food in the big open auditorium. We will kill them all in their sleep. It is the quickest and quietest way of killing them all. But the wild card will be god of wine who just arrived in the bug house now. We must be wary of him."

He turned to face Percy but was shocked to see nobody. He softly called out Percy's name but to no avail. He kept on walking when he suddenly tripped on something. He rolled forward and unsheathed his sword to point at …. a dead rabbit.

The neck was horribly decapicitated and there was no head. The whole thing had been torn off. 'Must be the doing of Percy' thought Nico.

He kept walking and saw Percy in the distance dragging his feet toward a silver colored cabin. Nico immediately started running towards him.

Percy had been standing behind Nico, waiting for him to open his eyes when he saw a silver colored building in the distance from the corner of his eye.

He turned around and started walking towards the cabin because he was reminded of the girls who he had fought and had been captured by.

He wanted nothing but to cut down each and every last one of them. But he was stopped by Nico who was panting a lot and who said, "What are you doing? Have you gone mad? We have to be stealthy and invisible. You don't have to go crash a cabin just now. Wait for the right moment and then I will help you in doing the same."

Percy didn't listen and just kept walking. Nico had to literally drag Percy to the bushes and tie him up with a tree vine.

Percy then sat emotionless and Nico exhaled a deep breath he didn't know he was holding.

**Line Breaker**

Conner was very, very happy. His brother Travis, who had been busted open by Percy that afternoon, had finally come to and Connor was stealing from the Ares cabin to make Travis more cheerful.

Chiron had said that with recent events all the campers were becoming dull and irritated and that any activities that amused the others would be beneficial for the whole camp.

Then he put the responsibility on the Stoll brothers who had to do pranks and other stuff to make everybody happy.

Right now Connor was stealing weapons and clothes from the Ares cabin and taking them to his brother to show that he had successfully 'ripped off' the bullies.

He was near the Artemis cabin when he heard a voice come from the bushes. He stopped and listened and heard a person talking.

He then called out, "Who's there? Show yourself right now. If this is a prank then it is a very stupid idea because my name is Connor and I'm a Stoll. Not even the Ares cabin can stand up to my might."

There was silence. Nico punched Percy in the shoulder and whispered; "Now you have done it. If we are discovered I will kill you, immortal or not.

Percy then tugged at the vine around his leg so hard that the tree from which the vine came fell down. Connor jumped back at the sound of the falling the tree and in a quivering voice he squeaked, "Who's there?"

As he was greeted by silence he then dropped all his loot and ran towards the pavilion as fast as possible.

But a jet black spear suddenly came and pierced Connor's shoulder and he fell down. Meanwhile Nico was shouting/whispering at Percy, "I have to clean up your mess now. Screw you."

By the time Nico reached Connor the spear had disappeared. Then Nico walked up to Connor and picked him up by the throat. Connor was already in pain but when he saw Nico's face he choked out, "Nico, you….. you're here. What are you doing? Let me go."

Hearing Connor's words Nico only squeezed tighter and then choke slammed him to the ground. Connor groaned and clutched his back and head. He then tried to get up but the pain from the spear wound was unbearable and Nico was standing on the son of Hermes' abdomen, making his speech impossible.

Then Nico slowly unsheathed his sword and inserted it in the shoulder wound of Connor. Connor started to shout in pain but Nico kicked him in the jaw, effectively breaking it.

Connor was on the ground now but he was still a son of Hermes and a demigod. So he packed all his energy in one fist and _tried _to punch Nico. Emphasis on tried.

Nico easily caught the fist and crushed it. Connor screamed again and Nico decided to end the demigod's agony.

Nico cut off Connor's head in one clean slice. When he turned around he saw Percy almost near the silver cabin's door. Nico acted on instinct and stuck out his hand. Percy's own shadow reacted and Percy was suck on the ground.

Nico knew that someone of Percy's caliber would break off the shadow trap soon so Nico quickly ran towards Percy and dragged him back by the arm. "You want to destroy it; well I'll do it for you. Watch and learn."

Nico then walked a bit away from the cabin, taking Percy with him. Then he raised his palm which was facing the Artemis cabin and gathered all his energy, calling out to the shadows of the whole area nearby.

The shadows wrapped around the cabin slowly covering it and crushing the whole cabin. As the matter and materials were not supposed to be forced together by such sudden force there was great pressure being exerted by them for release.

Nico knew this and also that if he let the shadows relax then the whole cabin would explode. He was just waiting for the right amount of pressure. Too less pressure and the cabin would hardly be destroyed.

Too much and the sound produced would be so much that it would be heard by the campers. After enough pressure was built, Nico looked towards Percy and said, "Now see the destruction."

Nico left his control and with sudden freedom the whole cabin burst apart creating a huge _boom_. The explosion was huge but there was no fire or smoke. The cabin was in pieces and rubble.

**Line Breaker**

Phoebe was very hungry. After coming from the big house the hunters sat in the cabin trying to relax and freshen up.

Soon it was time for dinner and all the hunters left except Phoebe who said that she wasn't hungry. The truth was that she didn't want to see the disgusting faces of the male campers. And after her escapade with the killer, Perseus, she definitely needed some alone time.

After having a few hours rest she woke up to a scream. She immediately got up, readied her bow and arrow and ran to the door. She opened it to see a boy fallen on the ground struggling and screaming for nothing.

Just seeing a male filled her with so much anger that the best she could do to not shoot him right then and there was to slam the door close and go back to bed.

She woke up again after a few minutes to a rumbling. She got up dazed and looked around to see that the whole cabin was shaking. She was still groggy when the whole cabin exploded and she flew into the air, her body already filled with bruises and wounds leaking blood.

Her vision was blurry and her whole body was so numb that when she fell down on the ground she couldn't feel any pain and also not recognize the two people who were standing over her body.

**Line Breaker**

Seeing the hunter at his feet filled Nico's head with ideas. He could do so much with the girl at his feet. During his time in Tartarus the visions in his head had also been about the cruelty of the hunters, and how they killed men for no reason just because they had the tools to do so.

Well, it was time somebody gave them a pill of their own medicine. Phoebe started to move and was actually able to get up. Nico had to commend her; surviving the explosion was a feat in itself, but getting up after can only prove one thing – either the girl was incredibly brave or insanely stupid.

Phoebe got up and stumbled backwards and as her vision started to clear she was able to make out 2 figures standing in front of her. After a few moments she could make out that they were boys and thinking of them as male demigods she said, "What are you two idiots doing in front me? Did you blow up the Artemis cabin? You better run away or I will make sure you can never walk again for the rest of your incredibly small lives."

Expecting the demigods to flinch and run away, she was surprised when they didn't even budge. This angered her more and she punched the boy with black attire on the face. There was no effect on the boy and Phoebe was very, very surprised.

A punch like that from this distance would have broken the nose completely. Even though her vision was still hazy she could hear properly, "Well, well, well, looks like we have a hunter on our hands. It is surprising that you survived an explosion of that magnitude, let alone to get up and have the power to punch. But I have to say that that was a very pathetic punch."

As her vision came back completely she recognized the two people standing in front of her. One was the murderer Perseus, the other, the boy she had just punched was Nico, the son of Hades and the brother of the dead hunter, Bianca.

"You, you're the brother of Bianca, the dead hunter." sputtered Bianca. Now when a person says anything about somebody's dead relative it will piss anybody off, no matter who he is. And Nico was always one with a short temper.

He shouted, "How dare you say her name? You don't deserve to say her name." Then he punched the hunter on the face, breaking her nose and spraining her jaw. He felt sad when he remembered Bianca and happy when Percy grabbed Phoebe's hair and kicked her head.

Nico mumbled, "What …" before Percy pushed him out of the way, dragging the hunter along by the hair.

Reaching a nearby tree Percy left Phoebe's hair and caught her legs. Then he swung her like a bat, hitting the tree. He kept doing it till a nymph staggered out of the tree and fell down, probably unconscious.

But even then Percy continued, showing no mercy. Blood was flowing like a river from her head which had been busted open quite a while ago. Till Nico came and said, "That's enough, she's dead alright. And even the campers have started to come. Let's get out of here. I have a plan that will fill the demigods with fear."

For one last time Percy banged Phoebe against the tree and then threw her away like the dead carcass she was.

Then the two warriors walked away from the scene, waiting for the whole situation to come to unfold.

**Line Breaker**

Chiron was in the pavilion eating food along with 50-60 other campers who were eating food without the usual chatter. No one was themselves tonight.

Knowing what they knew, any camper would be sad. Even though the war had been won, the reason they won the war was missing. Everybody's dear hero, Percy was missing.

Chiron then stood up and shouted and stamped his hooves. Everybody's head turned to look at him and Chiron sighed as he knew that the time had finally come to tell everybody the truth.

He knew that Katie was correct, that the demigods sitting in front of him had gone through a war and come out alive, and so were mentally capable of handling the news about Percy and Nico.

He then started his explanation and not one camper interrupted, how could they after hearing that the person they considered their friend and leader was now an enemy of Olympus and the one responsible for the recent murders.

There was quietness surrounding the whole pavilion and the tension was so tense that it could be cut with a pair of blunt scissors. Chiron then said, "If nobody has anything to say then …"

He was interrupted by a huge explosion and some of the campers were so startled that they fell down from their seats. But then everybody gathered their wits and rushed towards the sound.

It was surprising how a bunch of shocked and silent children had suddenly transformed into a trained group of warriors who were ready for anything from monsters to ….. well, monsters.

Chiron galloped towards the explosion but couldn't see any smoke or fire. Because of his speed he reached first and saw the ruins of a cabin.

And seeing the rest of the cabins he realized that the destroyed cabin was none other than the Artemis cabin. He could also make out three bodies – two near the tree and one between the Artemis and Apollo cabins.

Chiron was so shocked at seeing the sight before him that he couldn't move. The other demigods reached the scene and took in the destroyed cabin and the three bodies lying around.

The hunters immediately blamed the male demigods for no reason and a fight broke out. Then a small hunter named Pamela went near the bodies near the tree and recognized one of them to be of Phoebe's.

She started shouting and all the hunters crowded around the dead hunter. The demigods recognized the body of Connor Stoll and all the campers crowded around him.

Seeing that Chiron was frozen still and there were fights erupting between demigods and hunters, Annabeth knew she had to take control. 'But what to do to get their attention?' thought Annabeth.

Suddenly Thalia shouted, "The nymph is still alive."

Annabeth rushed towards the place and saw Thalia cradling the nymph in her lap. The nymph was speaking between short breaths, "Something was ….. hitting the tree. At first I thought it was a camper who got pushed ….. against the tree. So I ignored it. But when it happened again … and again there was so much pain that I couldn't bear it. After a few more hits …. I came out of the tree and saw a boy ….. holding a girl by the legs. The girl was bleeding … uncontrollably from the head. By then I had fallen down."

Thalia then said, "It's okay. You should rest now. Everything will be alright."

The nymph nodded and then closed her eyes. Thalia grimaced and then said, "Tell every camper and hunter that there is an intruder in camp. All the guards should be handling the posts that they are supposed to. And all the cabin counselors will come to the big house for a meeting. All this should happen within the next 15 minutes."

Annabeth was going to tell all of this to Chiron when there was another huge explosion and everybody looked in the direction of the sound to see the Dionysus cabin all blown but without any sign of fire or smoke.

Standing a bit away from the rubble were two boys, one of whom had his palm raised and facing the destroyed cabin while the other was standing completely motionless, staring at the demigods.

The boys started walking towards the assembled crowd and everybody could make out the face of Nico and the mask of Percy. The whole group was stunned. 'Wasn't Nico in Tartarus? Who is the masked boy? They destroyed the Dionysus Cabin?' were some of the questions thrown around.

Nico then said, "And what do we have here? A dead hunter and demigod? I'm sorry but I just can't help it. It is a lot of fun destroying cabins and killing demigods. The boy died in horrible pain but I relieved him in the end. And you can't imagine the fun I had with the girl lying there. Do you know that in the end she was enjoying it all?"

Thalia said, "What are you saying Nico? Are you all right? And get away from Percy, he will kill you. You have no idea what he has become."

"On the contrary, _you_ have no idea what hehas become. Anyways enough idle chat. I am here to fight. Do you have what it takes to beat me or are you a weakling like those carcasses?"

Thalia cried, "Shut the fuck up you bastard. I will make sure that you visit your father in hell."

Nico just smirked, "Where did you think I have come from?"

Thalia took out her spear and Aegis, her shield and shouted behind her shoulder, "Nobody interrupts me and him." Then she ran towards Nico. The son of Hades just got in a loose fighting stance and waited. Thalia started running sideways and Nico ran close behind.

Meanwhile Annabeth had walked to the front of the crowd and was staring at Percy. She then walked towards Percy slowly and started talking, "Seaweed Brain, what have you become? Why are you doing this? At least answer me. Say something. Do you even remember me? I am your Wise Girl."

Percy just kept staring at Annabeth without saying a word. Annabeth was approaching closer than ever to her ex best-friend and current mass murderer.

Annabeth continued, "I should have said this to you before, when you were….. you. But it seems I am too late. For the first time in my life I regret thinking from my mind and not my emotions and feelings, from my heart. I love you Perseus Jackson. I love you so very much."

By this time Annabeth was inches away from Percy, "But even my love for you cannot make me oblivious to the pain you have caused. The people you have killed. As much as I love you I cannot let you hurt the ones closest to me. I am sorry it had to come to this."

Annabeth then took out her knife, twirled it between her fingers and tried to stab Percy in the stomach but he caught her hand.

She stared at her with those ever beautiful sea green eyes of his. Annabeth was star struck and mesmerized. He backhanded the daughter of Athena and flung her to the ground.

Annabeth rolled back and then stood up in a full fighting stance.

Nico was having fun. His opponent, Thalia was a very strong demigod and had a lot of experience as she was able to match Nico blow for blow. But what they both already know was that Nico was just toying with her.

Thalia was using her full force while Nico's sword was still sheathed. Thalia sliced at his neck with her spear but Nico ducked and kicked Thalia but she blocked with her shield. Even then she was forced back because of the power.

Then he said ran towards her and jabbed her in the face and stomach again and again. His strikes were so quick that Thalia didn't have time to raise her shield.

Nico then drew his fist back for a final punch and Thalia managed to raise her shield to block her face. But Nico changed his tactic and kicked her in the stomach and Thalia bent over and got axe-punched by Nico on the back.

Thalia fell down on her knees as Nico said, "I think warm-ups over, let's begin the real fight shall we?"

Thalia wiped her mouth and then said, "Yeah let's do that." Nico formed a sword of shadow while electricity began coursing through Thalia's spear.

Nico ran toward Thalia and sliced at her neck and abdomen but she blocked both the times. Thalia then swung her shield at his head but a shield of shadow appeared from nowhere and blocked the strike.

Thalia was surprised and stumbled back because of the recoil of her own force and Nico kicked her in the head with a roundhouse, stunning Thalia.

Then Nico slashed at Thalia's hands which made her drop her weapons. He proceeded to kick her in the abdomen but she caught his leg. Electricity started coursing through her as she shocked Nico with as much power as she could give.

Thalia then swung the leg and threw Nico to the ground. Nico was dazed but shook his head to shake of the grogginess.

He then smirked and said, "If it's a bout of powers you want, it is what you will get."

Then Nico's sword disappeared and an aura of darkness covered him from head to toe. "Let's begin round three now, shall we?"

Thalia just grimaced in response as her body again arched with electricity.

Annabeth was having a hard time fighting Percy – partly because he was so strong and partly because she was holding back.

The only reason she had even survived till now was because of her reflexes. She put on her invisibility cap but Percy immediately caught her and flung her on the ground, tearing her invisibility cap.

She pleaded, "Percy, don't do this, please. Don't do this. We can get you help, please.

Percy then ran towards Annabeth with lightning speed and punched her on her jaw line. Annabeth wasn't fast enough to dodge and the blow would have knocked her out had she not rolled her head along the path of the punch.

Then he kicked Annabeth and she fell on the floor. Annabeth then shouted, "Seaweed Brain" and threw her knife at Percy. He caught it but Annabeth took the time to kick the distracted Percy.

Percy stumbled back and Annabeth punched him on the mask … and her hand broke. "Ahhhhhhhh, my hand" shouted Annabeth.

Then Percy kicked Annabeth and she fell on the floor. He then crouched over her and punched her, knocking her out. But even then he continued till Clarisse interrupted. She said to her fellow demigods, "I don't know how you can watch all of this but I surely can't."

She then brought her knee to Percy's face, which made him stumble back, more in surprise then in harm. Clarisse continued, "I am not as weak as the others Prissy. I will kill you before you harm anybody else. You don't know how long I have waited for this rematch."

She then readied her electric spear, Maimer 3 and ran towards Percy. Percy tilted his head and stood that way till Clarisse was almost in striking distance.

Then he stuck out the palm of his hand and deflected the spear. Because of the momentum Clarisse kept running and Percy bought his arm up to clothesline her but she ducked.

She then roundhouse kicked him on the back but it had no effect on him. He then elbowed behind his back and got rewarded with a big 'Ouch' and the cracking of bone. Looking behind he saw that Clarisse's nose was broken and blood was continuously flowing out of it.

Clarisse was hunched over in pain and he kneed her face and then punched her. Clarisse fell down but she still had some life left in her. The Percy started punching and kicking her but didn't kill her …. yet.

Meanwhile, Nico and Thalia had begun to fight with their powers. Thalia was bringing down bolts from the sky which Nico kept defending himself from by bringing up shadow shields. Nico smirked, then raised a hand and watched, amused, as dark tendrils snaked around Thalia's ankles and up her legs. She struggled, causing her to lose balance and fall. Thalia snarled at the expression on Nico's face and charged herself up with lighting before releasing it straight at her opponent.

Nico decided to take the bolt head on so as to make Thalia feel weak, but when the lightning struck him he didn't anticipate the power behind it and so got scorched.

Thalia smirked, expecting to see Nico down and out but when the smoke cleared the only difference was that his hair was standing and his arms were covered with soot. He then grinned and said, "Not bad, not bad at all. But you have to know that I am much, much stronger than you and your attacks will not harm me in the slightest."

Thalia just said, "Well, that means I will have to try again and again."

She ran towards Nico and sent small bolts on the way. They did nothing more than irritate him as he had a slight scowl on his face.

Thalia then jumped and grabbed Nico's shoulders with a sudden burst of speed, and then used all her power to give him the biggest lightning bolt she had ever given anybody.

Nico's eyes widened as he felt the fatal lightning attack his body and he managed to cover his body with a thin layer of protective shadow-membrane. Then Thalia stepped back and kneeled, gasping, as she had used all her power and could not continue anymore.

Nico then stepped forward, cracking his knuckles and with a savage grin on his face. He then spoke, "That was a good one, really surprised me. But as I told you before, you don't have enough power to harm me. Now it's my turn. But to make sure that your friends don't come in between …"

Nico waved his hand and a dome appeared which covered Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse and himself. He then said, "Let this fight be to the death. I will prove to everyone how strong I am after killing the daughter of Zeus and Lieutenant of Artemis."

Then Nico took out his actual sword, which was made by the essence of Tartarus, and slowly walked towards Thalia.

She was so tired that she didn't have the power to sit up and she closed her eyes, praying to her father for help. She knew it would be worthless as the gods rarely answered their children's prayers on time.

She finally accepted her fate, to die in Camp Half Blood by the hands of her own cousin. Suddenly she felt a huge flash of light and opened her eyes to see the whole Olympian council along with Hades standing in the middle of the dome in full battle armor.

She sighed and then mentally thanked her father. Nico looked at the gods, blinked and then started laughing, "The Olympians are finally here. I was beginning to wonder when you would come. Now the proper fight will begin. I have to ask, was it easy to penetrate my shadow dome?"

Zeus said in a cold voice, "Give yourself up Nico Di Angelo. You cannot win against the whole Olympian council. Surrender and we might think about not erasing you from existence."

Nico burst out laughing again, "You think I should surrender? Can't you see that I can kill your daughter in one strike? I can erase this camp from existence in the very next minute but that would do now good for my cause. I hold all the cards right now Zeus and there's nothing you can …"

Nico was interrupted by Ares who shouted, "Perseus Jackson, you bastard, I will destroy your very existence and make sure you never reform. How dare you touch my daughter?"

Then Ares revealed his godly form and ran towards Percy. The other gods tried to stop him but he was long gone. Percy calmly stood up, leaving the near-dead Clarisse to be, with his back facing Ares.

Ares was blinded by anger, hate and vengeance and so he failed to Percy's hand creeping toward his pocket. Ares thought that Percy was unarmed. Percy just put his hand in his pocket and in a very invisible motion took out a pen, which he opened to form Riptide.

He hid the sword by holding it in front of him, making Ares think he was unarmed. After Ares was close enough Percy turned and stabbed Ares ribs.

Ares stumbled back and coughed up blood while Percy pulled out his sword. "Where ….. the sword?" asked a confused Ares.

Then 'the voice' started talking, using Percy as a medium, "Hello Olympians, I am your destruction and that is all you need to know right now. But you should get ready to watch your god of war get destroyed. You have no idea what you are facing and I give you the chance to give up. Surrender and I might deal with you less harshly. But …. as an incentive to help you on the correct path …"

Percy then dropped his sword and stepped forward, picking up Ares by the neck and back, "to make you suffer through your pain ….. to prolong your agony, I will …"

All the gods watched, mortified and horrified as Percy slammed Ares' back on his knee while the voice simultaneously shouted, "BREAK YOU"

Percy then threw Ares on the ground, who was now slightly spasming. In a symbolic act Percy broke Ares' back. 'The voice' continued, though it was fading, "Think about it Olympians, do you want such things to happen to the others too, just because they are fighting on your side?"

Apollo yelled in anger and ran towards Percy with his bow ready. Nico saw this and ran towards Percy too, who was standing straight. Nico jumped to reach Percy a few seconds before Apollo and the warriors of 'the voice' disappeared in a black mist.

Apollo then ran towards Ares who was now unconscious and transported both of them to his palace. The other Olympians also flashed out taking Thalia, Annabeth, Clarisse, Connor and Phoebe with them.

**Well, how was it? Please R&R.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**The Olympian Throne Room**

"If we don't do something, we will be forced to cease from existence. We must kill him and save the world. We can't let some other being start a new age of immortal rule." said Zeus.

"That's bullshit and you know it. If your child was in a similar situation, you would do anything to save her or him, wouldn't you?" shouted Poseidon.

"But my child isn't in such a situation so you can't say anything about me." smirked Zeus.

"We all know why Percy was the one Kronos chose to infect. It is because Percy is the strongest demigod alive and there is no one who comes even near to him, in terms of skill, power or technique. After all, he defeated Kronos by himself and also defeated Ares." said Poseidon, with a smile on his face.

"Right now we have no reason to fight among ourselves. And Poseidon, I understand that you are upset but the crimes committed by Perseus have reached a whole new height. He even hurt Ares' godly form, so he is quite strong. We have to advance with caution regarding this situation and I'm sorry to say but if you're not with the council, you're against it." said Athena.

"Athena, I didn't expect this from you. I thought you would be the voice of reason in this whole mess. My son isn't doing this; he is being controlled by somebody else. If we can just try to save Percy instead of trying to kill him off, then I have to say that you are just being selfish." shouted Poseidon.

"Poseidon, don't be a crybaby. Be a god and start getting a control over your emotions. He's just a spawn. Don't be so sad over it." Zeus scoffed.

"You have no right to say that. When your daughter was almost dying, you broke the ancient rules by converting her into a tree. I have to say you should be grateful she is even alive right now. My son saved her and didn't even get thanks for his efforts. You should be kissing my son's feet for saving your daughter's ungrateful ass." shouted Poseidon.

"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT? DO NOT FORGET THAT I AM YOUR KING. IF I WANT, I CAN KICK YOU OUT OF OLYMPUS. YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL I EVEN LET YOU STEP ONTO MY DOMAIN. THIS IS THE THANKS YOU GIVE ME FOR KEEPING OLYMPUS SAVE UNDER MY GLORIOUS RULE?" screamed Zeus.

"Glorious rule? Your rule has been full of wars, not including the ones against the Giants. First I had to fight my brother Hades and be on your pathetic side. If not for me, you wouldn't have been able to Typhon. Olympus would be a huge space of rubble and Kronos would be back in power. You don't deserve to be the king of Olympus. You're just lucky my fatal flaw is loyalty." screamed Poseidon.

"We should all be quiet. Let's think about what we're talking right now. We should not be fighting at a time like this. It would not be healthy for Olympus. We should go past our petty differences and think about our home and how to protect it. This current crisis is as threatening as Kronos, maybe even more. We should act as a unit, the unit a family constitutes." said Athena.

"It's just that ….. ah, forget it. I'm going to my palace. Hermes, inform me of any new developments that take place." Poseidon then disappeared in a mist of sea-green mist and a few weeds.

Zeus then said, "As of today, Perseus Jackson is a Tartarus-level criminal wanted for treason, murder and widespread destruction. If found he will be killed or captured, as possible, and has to be brought in front of the council for immediate removal from existence."

"What about that son of Hades? Even he was there, laughing at us like we are a bunch of fools. He must have grown quite powerful too, he was quicker then Apollo, we all saw his speed. He must have a ripped body with a 6 pack ab." said Aphrodite, drool dripping from her mouth.

"Sheesh Aphrodite, keep it in your pants. We don't want to hear about your daydreams. And Nico is now our enemy. This unfortunate incident proves that we need to eat cereal everyday to be stronger. Cereal is the key to defeating Perseus." said Demeter in a wise voice.

Zeus coughed loudly, "Now Hermes, go to Apollo and get me an update on Ares' condition. We have to up the training for the camper's because in their current state, they are in no condition to fight Percy and Nico at all. And Dionysus, Dionysus, wake up."

Dionysus sat up straight and squealed, "Yes father?"

Zeus frowned, "I have come to a decision, and I don't think anybody in the council will go against it. You are now removed from the council. I am sure you remember the reason why. The replacement for you and Ares will be chosen at a later meeting. All but Athena will stay here. Meeting dismissed."

**There is a reason that happened too. Let's go back in time to a few hours ago, just about when Nico and Percy had disappeared from the camp. Now when I told you that the whole Olympian council had come, I was wrong. Let me just explain it to you.**

**Flashback**

Instead of flashing back to Olympus, Zeus had flashed to the big house. He had missed Dionysus in the whole batch and when he had counted 12, he had mistaken Hades for Dionysus.

But Hades had been surprisingly quiet the whole time, even after seeing his son mocking the gods and having gone over to the other side.

Anyways, Zeus went into the inner room where Dionysus was currently passed out. He took out his Master Bolt and gave Dionysus a mildly painful shock.

Dionysus woke up in an instant, all his sleepiness gone and his hair and eyebrows singed. Dionysus shook his head and then stared at his father with a squint.

Then they widened and he realized that something big had happened. He stood straight and asked, "Father, why are you here? What happened?"

Zeus just glared at Dionysus for a few moments and then he said in a controlled and calm voice, "The whole Olympian council was out there in the camp. Did you know that a camper and hunter are dead, the Artemis and Apollo are destroyed and a few campers are in critical condition?"

Dionysus just shrugged, "Must be some small monster attack. We keep getting that the whole time. And if the campers and hunters can't handle it then it's their fault." Big mistake.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT? DID YOU KNOW THAT ARES' BACK IS BROKEN AND HE HAS BEEN STABBED THROUGH THE HEART EVEN THOUGH HE WAS IN HIS GODLY FORM? HOW CAN YOU BE SO DENSE? DID YOU KNOW THAT PERSEUS JACKSON ESCAPED AND WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THIS ALONG WITH NICO, SON OF HADES, WHO IS NOW ON THE SIDE OF OUR MYSTERY OPPONENTS? YOUR WINE HAS DULLED YOU SO MUCH THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN REALIZE THE FACT THAT 2 CAMPERS JUST DIED. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF I TOLD YOU THAT YOUR CHILD DIED RIGHT NOW? WOULD YOU BE AS IGNORANT AS YOU ARE RIGHT NOW? HUH?" screamed Zeus.

Dionysus was fallen on the floor because in his temper, Zeus had kept shocking the wine god gain and again with his Master Bolt, subconsciously of course. Dionysus just grunted after which Zeus started talking again in a loud voice, "You are lucky you're my son. But I'm not sure even this can save you from your oncoming punishment. You are removed from the Olympian council and I will make the official decision tomorrow."

Then, in anger, Zeus shocked Dionysus with a huge bolt which made the god of madness go through the wall of the room and crash into the wall of the next one.

**Flashback Over**

**That's the story of the shocking (AN : tell me you got the joke) beat down of Dionysus. Now back to the council.**

All gods and goddesses except Athena and Dionysus disappeared in various different colors of flashes of lights.

Dionysus fell on his knees and joined his hands, "Father, please do not remove me from the council. Just give me a second chance and I will make sure that you see the difference. I will do anything I can to make it up to you.

"I gave you many chances but you always found a way to do something worse. I can't help it but you are now removed from the council. You are a disgrace of a son to me." Then Zeus waved his hand and Dionysus disappeared in a mist of blue and purple shade.

Zeus continued, "Daughter, what do you think of the current situation? Do you think we can handle it even after surviving a war with the Titans?"

Athena stayed in a posture of concentration for a few minutes while Zeus waited patiently for a response. Even Zeus acknowledged that his daughter was the wisest and he knew that she was doing something important.

Athena then turned towards her father and smirked, "Father, there is no one here. We can speak safely without any interference. And yes, the mission has started perfectly with nobody having the inkling of an idea of our purpose."

"So, give me an update of what you've learned till now." smiled Zeus.

"Well, this will probably come as a shock to you, but he is much, much stronger than we suspected. He has hidden his true power till now and nobody, not even I could guess that he was hiding such a great secret. I couldn't believe when I saw it for myself. Even his own subjects don't know about it. He has kept it a secret for so long and only his family knows about it. And the amount of information and power I have seen is so great, he could have used it to overthrow you in an instant. He can crush Olympus if there ever is a war between you and him. He alone can take on the whole of the Olympian council and win. It is truly amazing." Then Athena's eyes glazed over in reminiscence.

"Will you be able to get this power from him without anybody suspecting? If somebody gets to know of our operation, then you and I will face some serious trouble. Even though I'm king, even I have to answer to the council." said Zeus.

"Don't worry father, I have gotten quite close to him and I'm on the verge of uncovering the big secret. Everything will be alright." smiled Athena.

Zeus stood up, "Yes, once I get hold of this new power you talk about, I will be the most powerful being on Earth. Even my father won't be able to stand up to me and I will rule Olympus forever. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA."

Zeus then sat down on his throne again as Athena disappeared in a bunch of owl's feather and a few pages with a slight smirk on her face.

**Line Breaker**

Hermes went to Apollo's palace and got inside easily. Hermes didn't need permission to enter a god's domain or palace as he was the god of messengers. But he couldn't abuse this power as he was checked upon by his father, the king of Olympus himself.

Anyways he went to the personal medication room of Apollo where only the most severe cases were treated. Apollo used all of his energy in saving the dying or dead but he had always succeeded. But right now Hermes wasn't so sure.

When Hermes reached the medication room he was surprised to see Ares' lying on a cot with Apollo sitting right next to the body on a beach-chair with his head in his hands.

"Why aren't you healing Ares', bro? And why are you sitting like that? Did something happen?" Hermes fired questions left and right.

Apollo kept sulking in the same posture for a few more minutes after which he stood up, gave Hermes a sad smile and said, "I'm sorry, Hermes, I'm sorry. But Ares can't be healed. He was in his godly form when this happened and there is no way I can heal a god when he was hurt in his godly form. And Ares was stabbed in the chest and had his back broken! I can't heal that at all. There are only 2 options left."

Hermes' curiosity peaked, "Options? What options?"

"Well, we can either let him remain a cripple for the rest of his immortal life, which by the way is mostly forever, or we kill him ourselves and wait for him to reform to return as a perfectly fine Ares. We have to choose one of them" explained Apollo.

"I see, well, let's go to pops, the council will decide it for us. But personally, I would want him to die, then reform and come back as a healed god of war. Also, I want a break from his usual rants about killing off every peaceful person in the world. I want sometime without him" said Hermes.

"There is also that empty spot on the council now that Ares is … well no more in a proper condition." frowned Apollo.

"And there is also the removal of Dionysus from the council. I can honestly say I'm not surprised that happened. His too-much casual attitude was his downfall. Anyways, i think Aunt Hestia will be the one to fill up that spot. She is totally the best goddess that I know of. She can even make pops be quiet with just words." said Hermes with a grin.

"Totally, and the spot of Dionysus, well I guess that will be filled up by uncle Hades, even though he is a bit creepy. I mean, he literally represents death and darkness, while I represent happiness and awesomeness and light. He and I are just polar opposites." Apollo shivered involuntary.

"But there is an upside to this Percy situation. The sons and daughters of Kronos are now going to come close. If they are all together, then nobody, not even Percy can present a threat great enough to budge their power." said Hermes with a smile.

"I agree, but you never know about pops. He might some minor god to be an Olympian. His ego might create a bigger drift among the gods. It all depends on our king now." sighed Apollo.

Hermes then said, "Anyways gotta go now, bro. Tell me more about Ares later. GB."

Then he flashed away and Apollo returned to his chair with his head in his hands.

**Line Breaker**

There was a small mist near a tree and then appeared Nico and Percy. For a few moments there was silence after which Nico started laughing. He kept laughing and didn't stop until Percy jabbed him in the abdomen.

Nico then said, "Dude that was awesome. The Olympians were freaked up. And you broke Ares. You literally broke Ares' back and crippled him for the rest of his eternal life. And the highlight of today, you spoke. You freaking spoke. I didn't know you had such a spooky voice. But it was awesome."

Percy kept standing straight while Nico kept blabbering. After a while Nico stood straight and said, "I know the brains of those campers. They will search everywhere but the one place which they fear. This anthill is the only place where even the centaur won't dare to come. And the ants are … our comrades. They won't harm us. So the only thing which can irritate us is some camper who lost his way in this forest. Anyways, you must be tired and hungry right now, so what do you want to eat? I can get some meat for you. There are quite some rabbits and birds in this area. What do you prefer?"

Percy didn't respond but sat down which made Nico raise his eyebrow. A few moments later a rabbit and a bird came in Percy's lap.

Percy put his hand on both of the creatures and then crushed their bodies in one go. Then he pulled apart their heads, which were intact, and bodies and handed the latter to Nico. Then he started nibbling on the heads.

Seeing all of this Nico just smirked, "Nice. That's a cool power. You gotta teach me that someday. And try to speak a little. I get lonely, being the only who speaks. Anyways, good work, I'm starving. And we should have rest after this, because from tomorrow we will continue to make the campers cower in fear."

Percy then looked at Nico, and if he had not been wearing his mask, then anybody would have seen that Percy had a slight smirk on his face and an evil glint in his eyes. One would only know in the future that things were going to get a hell lot freakier.


	12. Chapter 12

**First of all, Good luck to Lioness Deity. Hope you win.  
><strong>**Chapter 12**

Annabeth was sitting on her bunk in the Athena cabin, thinking about the night before when Percy and Nico had attacked, the camp. They had destroyed the Apollo and the Artemis cabin and killed Connor and Phoebe.

The daughters of Apollo and the hunters were staying in the Hecate cabin while the sons of Apollo were staying in the Nemesis cabin.

Even though it had only been one night since the incident involving Percy and Nico, the camp had surprisingly come back and managed itself pretty well. Instead of the rubble of bricks and mortar, there was a clean space where the ruined cabins used to be.

Of course, it was Annabeth who had to take the role of the leader of the camp but she couldn't keep her grief inside her the whole time.

So whenever she was alone, she would cry for the past times and for losing Percy and not being able to handle the responsibility of leading the camp and being a role model for many.

Annabeth then went to the bathroom and freshened up. She still had to submit reports about the progress of the rebuilding of the cabins and more importantly, build up the moral of the campers and make some of their fear go away.

But it wouldn't be easy. She herself wasn't sure what to do, they didn't know who their enemy was, and Percy and Nico were just fighters. The true mastermind was yet to be revealed.

She later got told that Percy broke Ares' back and that was when she truly realized that her Seaweed Brain would never come back. She had to stop thinking from her heart and only use her mind. But she ignored everything, went to the training area and practiced on the dummies for the next few hours.

Thalia came by and said, "Hey Wise Girl, breakfast is almost over. Enough training, get some grub and then some sleep, you have dark circles under your eyes. If you want to take care of the camp then you better take care of yourself first." She was snickering by the end.

Annabeth just smiled sadly. "This camp has been my home for the past 9 years. Chiron is a father to me and I even liked Mr. D at some point of time. You are always on the hunt, killing animals and living in tents. That's why you don't have the feeling to want to give up your life to save this camp. I just can't believe that Percy has attacked the place he considered his true home."

"Listen honey, you have to get it in that overworked head of yours that Percy is gone and will never come back. Even I am sad and can barely hold it, but I am trying my best. That kelp head was very dear to me in our own way. He was the best cousin a person can ask for. Seeing him in his current state has made me realize that good things always go away in the end. But enough of sorrow, we have to be strong and fight because we know that we are the good side and we have the power of the gods with us. We will win."

Annabeth just smiled sadly and slumped on the ground, "I just don't know if I can handle being the leader of this camp. I was so pathetic last night; I was no match for Percy. You are much better a fighter than I am and that was proved last night. Also, your heritage makes you a natural leader as daughter of Zeus."

Thalia sat down next to her with her eyebrow raised, "You think I like being a daughter of Zeus? Sure, I have a lot of power, but at what cost? No matter what everybody will always fear me, even my friends. Many are scared of me because of my father, this being the reason that I was always treated like an outcast in my childhood. I don't have any brothers or sisters, no one to share a cabin with, no one to eat my meals with. Even in the hunt, the only reason I'm the lieutenant is because I am the only demigod daughter of Zeus, and subsequently, Artemis' half-sister. This is the bond I used to share with Percy and Nico. Now both of them have gone so far that I will never be able to get them back again."

Thalia sighed and then continued, "But bunk that, it's no use reminiscing about the past. I have to get you up and in the spirits for the task of reconstructing this camp. So I challenge you to a race Athena spawn, the one who reaches the pavilion first has to admit that the other is better and also handle the kitchen duties for any forthcoming punishment. Come on."

Annabeth smirked and raced forward with Thalia on her heels as they both ran, not realizing that this was one of the last times they would ever get the time to be happy.

**Line Breaker**

"Mother, I don't like this at all. He has been angry all night and even now the storms are raging far beyond what I can control. I need you to cool him down as I have already tried and the only result was me getting slapped. Do something." said Triton.

Amphitrite sighed and said, "I managed to get the reason out from him late last night. It is because of the events involving your half-brother Perseus Jackson and his recent ventures. There was a little spat between Lord Zeus and Lord Poseidon around this topic and due to his temper, Poseidon stormed out of there **(A.N : get the irony?) **and the storms have been the consequent results. In his state, it is best to leave him be and let his temper cool down himself. There are ….."

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and Athena appeared in the throne room of Atlantis, next to Amphitrite and Triton. She then nodded to Amphitrite and said, "I have come here to meet Poseidon. Where is he?"

Triton folded his arms and responded, "Athena, you have been coming to Atlantis a lot these days. There is no chance you are reconsidering your state of affairs with father, is there?"

Athena just sighed and said, "I have already solved this matter with Poseidon and I will only say that ….."

Triton interrupter by saying, "While you are in Atlantis, you will refer to father by the title of Lord, because unlike in Olympus, father is king here and the one with the most power. With a flick of my finger I can crush you under the millions of quintals of water and there won't even be any remains left for you to reform. Your fatal flaw of hubris will not be tolerated here."

Athena seethed in her mind and was about to remark when a loud booming voice echoed throughout the throne room, "Triton, that is no way to talk to a guest. Regardless of your past with Athena she is by all means my guest and friend and this disrespect will not be tolerated. Apologize immediately."

Triton just glared at Athena, then bowed in Poseidon's direction and flashed away along with Amphitrite, who had just stared at Athena the whole time.

Poseidon then sighed and asked Athena, "What is it? If that nitwit brother of mine sent you here to give some kind of message then I don't want to hear it."

Athena let out a snort and then said, "You really think father even wants to talk to you anymore? Anyways, I have come here to cool you down on my own behalf. Your seas are flooding coastal cities and towns and I'm worried. I know that you are conflicted between your love for your demigod son and your loyalty to Olympus. But you need to think about this with a cool mind. You need to figure out the pros and cons of the situation and look at the bigger picture. And in the meantime, I can stay with you at Atlantis so as to help you while you think. What do you say?"

Poseidon closed his eyes and thought about it for a while and then said, "Well, since you like books a lot I will have your room prepared near the library. That way you will not get bored and also avoid any unnecessary confrontation with either Triton or Amphitrite. My attendant will guide you to the room."

Then Poseidon left and Athena had an uncanny grin plastered on her face, while following the attendant. Her plan was coming to fruition. It would soon be time, and then _he _would suffer the fate _he_ was destined to.

**Line Breaker – A Few Days Later**

It was a very humid day as Nico grunted again and again, with his body perspiring rapidly. Percy was behind him, standing as always in a motionless posture.

Percy and Nico were trying to obtain an instrument from the hidden bunker of Cabin 9, the Hephaestus Cabin. This particular instrument was just a prototype but it could make a normal human being, a demigod, god or even titan mentally unstable and vulnerable to any command given to it by the user.

If used properly, in the war they could turn innumerable people to their side with less than no effort.

While the campers were having dinner in the pavilion, Nico and Percy were stealing this instrument. But the traps guarding the instrument were so many in number and so hard to pass through that manipulating shadows to obtain the object utilized a lot of power and also a lot of precision and accuracy.

So, for a few days they just stole some weapons which were barely made any big difference in the armory of the campers while biding for time and when the Hephaestus campers lowered their guard, they came for the instrument.

Nico used more and more of his power and then got a hold of the instrument. 'Now to get the instrument without dropping it" – thought Nico. After another 7-8 minutes Nico had the instrument in his hand.

While Nico was inspecting the instrument, he suddenly felt Percy jerk behind him. This could only mean one thing – the campers were coming back. Both the warriors ran towards the trees for cover but Nico fell due to exhaustion from using too much power.

They were spotted by one camper who shouted immediately, "Oh my god, that's Percy Jackson and Nico Di Angelo. They are back." All campers rushed towards them. Nico didn't have enough power to fight the campers so Percy took out his pen and uncapped it, revealing Riptide.

Then he picked up Nico on his shoulder and threw his sword like a javelin at the campers. The throw had so much power that it went through 3 campers before being deflected by a shield held by a camper. A camper, probably a son of Nike, ran with amazing speed and stood blocking Percy's path with his sword.

But Percy kicked with even faster speed at the shield of the camper who was sent flying into the bushes. The campers stood back while Annabeth, Will Solace, Thalia, Katie, Travis, and a few other close friends of Percy pushed their way to the front with their weapons taken out.

Travis then shouted, "You bastards, you killed my brother, Connor. I will kill you even if it's the last thing I ever do. Come back."

Percy kept walking and this angered him so much that he rushed without a second thought, anger clouding his judgment. Annabeth shouted, "No, he's too strong for you. Come back Travis."

Thalia shot a lightning bolt at Percy and then he reacted so quickly that not many could see what actually happened. Percy dropped Nico, turned around and took out Riptide out of his pocket. Then he threw the sword at Travis. The lightning got attracted to the sword because it is a conductor and it continued on its way as a combination of sword and lightning.

Travis managed to deflect Riptide with his own sword but couldn't prevent Riptide from stabbing him in the shoulder. The lightning stored in the sword electrocuted him and he fell down, not moving at all.

Then Percy picked Nico and ran away in the forest again, leaving the campers with more casualties. 'They had never left the camp but had only stayed in the forbidden forest, thus outwitting even the most intelligent of the Athena children, damn it' – thought Annabeth.

Percy kept running and returned to their makeshift campsite. There he dropped Nico who had come back to consciousness by then. He said, "Pretty crazy ….. out there, huh? Well, at least we're ….. alive. So what actually happened out there?"

All of a sudden 'the voice' started speaking in their minds. "Nice work Percy. You did an excellent job of warding off the campers. You both acquired the prototype I asked you to get. Now use it to get strong fighters onto our side. For even though I have an army, I lack quality generals. The people who you need to get are Thalia Grace, Annabeth Chase, Chiron the centaur, Clarisse La Rue, and a few of the minor gods. This may take time but you should also gather any and all fighters who seem strong enough to fight in my army. Kill all those who are weak and vulnerable with no mercy. I have faith in you Percy, and Nico."

After this the voice spoke no more and Percy and Nico went about their own ways. Percy sat motionlessly along while Nico paced around.

Nico had observed that 'the voice' favored Percy on terms of skill, power, technique, etc. It was always Percy who did the good work and Nico never got any recognition. This aggravated Nico to no end.

Nico knew that Percy had "the voice's" essence in him but that didn't mean that Percy was more powerful than him. Even though Percy and Nico had never fought, Nico knew that he could take on Percy and win. He just needed to prove himself to 'the voice' that he was better than Percy.

And when he got the chance he would do just that. Nico then kept glaring at Percy as if only a glare would kill him.

**That was Chapter 12, readers. And don't forget to Review. I don't care if you criticize me, but please review.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Olympian Throne Room - Council Meeting**

"Today's council meeting is to discuss the fate of the Olympian council, more specifically, the spots vacated by Dionysus and Ares. We are to also decide the fate of Ares based on what Apollo will tell us about his condition. That is why we have invited all the minor gods, Hades, the demigods and all other magical creatures for this meeting. By the way where is Hades, I don't sense him?" said Zeus, in a solemn tone.

Persephone replied, "My husband has some important work to do involving the underworld and so he will come a bit late, Lord Zeus."

"How dare he come so late to a meeting so important?" Zeus shouted.

"Calm down brother, he will come when he is able to. We should start with the proceedings." advised Hestia. Zeus took in a deep breath and nodded, "You are right. I should think about this with a calm mind."

"There already has been a private discussion between father and me for deserving gods and we have come up with a few names." said Athena.

There was a slight murmur in the crowd as all whispered about the recent events and the numerous possibilities for the upcoming honors. In other times, crowning new Olympians would be a time of big gala and happiness, but because of the events leading up to this, it was just a normal meeting with all gods and demigods assembled.

"Without further ado, let me tell you the names of the new Olympians as of now." After a slight pause Zeus continued, "The 11th Olympian is Hestia." There was a big round of applause as everybody liked her as she was kind to all. Hestia then got up from near the hearth and sat down on one of the empty thrones.

At once, the throne transformed, with small fires burning almost everywhere and the smell of a home-cooked meal surrounding the place. Almost everybody took in a deep breath to inhale the delicious smell.

"Does anyone in the council have any problems with this decision?" asked Athena. Nobody replied and she took it as a sign of unanimous decision.

"Now … the 12th Olympian is … Hebe, my daughter." said Zeus. This decision drew silence from the crowd and a little later a quiet round of applause.

There was a bright flash of darkness and then Hades appeared. He looked at the council and saw Hestia sitting on a throne. He smiled and said, "You deserved this sister. I am very happy for you."

Hestia gave Hades a sad smile and said, "Thank you brother, but maybe …." But by that time Hades saw the other throne next to Hestia on which sat Hebe.

"NOOOO." shouted Hades. "This is not happening. I will not be bypassed again. I deserve a spot on the council, and even though I was left the last time, I will not allow this to happen again. I want my throne Zeus and you had better give it to me. You just want your children to be in the council so that you have an iron-hold on all the decisions that you want to make in your own favor. Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hermes, Ares, Hephaestus, Dionysus, and now Hebe. All of them are your children. The remaining Olympians are the sons of Kronos that you had to make Olympians. This is a disgrace. I will not allow this to happen."

"Be quiet. This is a decision taken by me and I'm the king. You will follow my orders or I will make you learn them." screamed Zeus.

"You must have forgotten this but you are not my king. I am not a part of the Olympian Council. I am the king of the underworld and the dead, I am Hades and I bow down to no one. Maybe it's for the better that I'm not one of the Olympians. Omnipotence has blinded you brother. You have been king far too long; I don't know how Poseidon tolerates you at all. But you should know this; if I don't get a council seat then I will declare war on Olympus. You are my younger brother and you should be treated as such. You don't deserve any respect if you don't earn it." shouted Hades.

"Why don't we all just quiet down and talk about this." began Hestia. "We are not alone here. Our children should not see this sight. Today is supposed to be a day when everyone comes together and stays in peace, not start petty fights over who gets what.

"Sister, you do not come between this. I have tolerated this blind disrespect for many millennia now. If he can't acknowledge me as a fellow god, then I will have to make him." said Hades, pulling out his bident and Helm of Darkness.

Zeus just gritted his teeth and pulled out his Master Bolt as Demeter and Hestia told all the minor gods to leave the throne room along with the demigods and nature spirits.

Poseidon then stood up and said, "Brothers, we do not need to start a fight now. We should …. "

"Be quiet Poseidon. I have tolerated Hades' disrespect towards Olympus and me long enough. Today it all ends!" shouted Zeus.

Poseidon was filled with rage but before he could do anything, a few plants crawled up to him and pulled him back on the throne. He looked towards Demeter who shook her head.

Meanwhile, Zeus and Hades were still in a standstill. Then Hades shouted, "Die" and thus began the battle between the gods.

**The forest of Camp Half Blood**

"Percy, its time; time for our second attack on that pathetic camp. This time we will use all our power and destroy that camp. Without the demigods, the gods will be severely weakened and then we will destroy them. Are you ready?" said Nico in a jubilant voice.

Percy kept standing without even a gesture of acknowledgement. Nico sighed and touched Percy's shoulder and they both shadow travelled out of there.

They both appeared in the armory shack of the camp where Nico began his explanation, "Ok, so this is the place where the campers keep the bulk of their weaponry. If we destroy this armory they will be severely handicapped and it will be much easier to destroy them. And that is how we will begin the next war against the gods."

Then Nico raised his hands and shadows swirled out of his own as tentacles. Nico closed his fists and the shadows pierced the walls tearing the whole shack apart.

Then he formed a huge box of shadows and put all the weapons there. After that he kicked the box and it sailed high in the air and landed somewhere in the forest.

**Infirmary of camp Half – Blood**

Annabeth, Thalia and Chiron were surrounding the bed while Will Solace healed Travis. Even though it had been a few days since the attack, Travis was still gravely injured.

Thalia then said in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry Travis that you got hurt by my lightning bolt. I had no intention to do that."

Travis just grinned and said, "It's okay Thalia. It wasn't your mistake anyway. It was that bastard Percy, who will pay for killing my brother. I swore it on Connor's shroud and by gods; I will uphold that promise to my very death."

Will just sighed and said, "You, my friend, are in no condition to fight. It's the stab wound caused by Riptide, it was too deep. Your whole shoulder got dislocated and a part of your bone just got broken into fine powder. It will be months before you are able to use your hand."

Travis' eyes widened, "Are you kidding me? In a few months we might be in war. You are saying that for so long a time I will be lying in this bed, helpless? Come on, you're the son of Apollo, can't you heal this injury immediately.

Will just looked away and said, "I don't have enough power to do so. The injury is very severe. Only a god's power can heal this injury immediately."

"Come child, don't be so sad. You will be fine in a few months. We should be thankful that nothing worse happened." said Chiron, trying to lighten Travis' mood.

Travis erupted, "Nothing worse? Nothing worse? You must be going mad Chiron if you didn't see what happened last time. 3 more campers died Chiron. Are you saying that you still favor Percy? Is he still your favorite student? Are you really that blind in his love? You should ….."

"TRAVIS BE QUIET. JUST SHUT UP OR IN GOD'S NAME I WILL KILL YOU. YOU SAY…" Annabeth was interrupted by a sound, a high pitched sound of something flying.

Thalia, Annabeth, Chiron and Will ran outside to see campers running in the direction of the armory. "What's happening?" asked Thalia.

"I don't know but we gotta check it out. Come." said Annabeth. "Now wait, Annabeth. Thalia, you should go. Annabeth, you and Will help me in transporting the injured and sick upstairs, to where they will be safer. If this is an attack, then keeping the wounded safe is a priority." said Chiron.

The trio nodded and went their separate ways.

**The Armory of Camp Half Blood**

"Now, let's begin. You take one half of the camp I'll take the other half. Go." Then Nico formed shadow clones which were fully black in color but had the same power, albeit to a lesser degree.

After the destruction of the shack, all the campers came running. One shouted, "They destroyed our armory. We don't have any weapons. How do we fight them?" Some campers who had their weapons went on to fight the warriors of the dark while the others stood back.

Percy was like a blur of darkness slashing through the campers as if they were paper. The campers were no match for his superior sword yielding abilities and practical immortality.

Then he came face to face with Thalia. He slashed at her normally because for Percy there were no strong campers and weak campers. They were all campers and he had one mission – to kill them.

"Percy Jackson, I swear on my name that I will kill you – immortal or not. I will not let you hurt anyone else." said Thalia.

Then both the combatants rushed each at other. Percy slashed at her head but she blocked with Aegis and then sliced at his stomach. He caught the sword in mid-arc and pulled it out of her hand.

Then he kicked Thalia in the leg, making her drop and then in the face. But Thalia let loose a huge bolt of lightning from the sky, which made him drop Thalia's sword. Any other normal demigod and he or she would have been killed but it had little effect on Percy.

Thalia gritted her teeth and then jumped back up. She threw her shield at him and then kicked him in the face while he was distracted.

Percy fell back, more stunned by the fact of the blow than the force itself. He then ran towards the daughter of Zeus with amazing speed and punched her, and she was barely able to duck.

Then she jabbed in him in the stomach and then ran towards her sword. Percy threw his sword in her direction and she caught it. Then she took her sword and now had two swords to fight with while Percy was weaponless.

There was a bright flash of light in the distance but the combatants ignored it. Thalia ran towards Percy and slashed at his legs. Percy jumped but Thalia stabbed him in the stomach with the other sword.

Percy fell down and Thalia kept stabbing him. But then Percy grabbed both the swords in mid-strike and kicked Thalia in the chest. She flew backwards, dropping both swords.

Then Percy got up but only got stabbed from the back. As Thalia got up, she saw that it was Artemis who had stabbed Percy. "Lady Artemis, what are you doing here?" asked Thalia in surprise.

"Taking revenge, what else? Nobody kills my hunters and gets away with it. I will kill this _boy_once and for all." said Artemis.

Percy struck her with the elbow but Artemis dodged and struck him in the legs. Percy buckled and Artemis kicked him, taking out her sword and stabbing him in the back of his head. But she received resistance and couldn't drive it in any farther.

That's when Percy started his attack. He grabbed the sword by his hands and pulled it out of his head. The force pushed Artemis back and with incredible speed Percy roundhouse kicked her.

Artemis coughed and then said, "That all you got? I can't believe Ares lost to you." Percy then took out a pen from his pocket and uncapped it to reveal Riptide.

Artemis then dropped her sword and pulled out her hunting knives from their sheaths. Then the two ran towards each other fighting with all their energy.

**Line Breaker**

Meanwhile Nico had brought upon great destruction to the camp. Just as Percy had run away, he banged his fists on the floor, opening a huge crack. Out of the crack came a huge monster army, possibly larger than even Kronos'. This was the army of 'the voice'. There were creatures which had never been seen before, creatures so old that some were entirely new to the campers.

Then Nico began his attack. "Destroy everything that you see, leave nothing intact." While half the monster force was fighting the campers, the other half was destroying the cabins and pavilion; and they faced little resistance from the weaponless campers. Nico and his clones themselves picked out the strong ones.

And from every clone that was killed, two new were born instantly. Nico first went off against 2 twin daughters of Hecate.

They cast a spell on him which trapped him in a sphere of water. This troubled Nico very much, because Nico has a natural dislike to water, considering his heritage. The sphere was then surrounded by a ring of fire, thereby instantly preventing Nico's escape.

Nico tried to calm down but he didn't have a lot of breath left. He would surely die here if he doesn't get help soon.

Nico could telepathically communicate with his clones. But all of his clones were fighting somebody else. So he tried to stretch his own shadow to see if he could capture even one of the twins, and to somehow break the spell.

But because of the distance, and also because of the scarcity of breath, Nico couldn't stretch it any further.

So he used a part of his shadow and made a clone. The twins were so surprised by the appearance of a clone that they stumbled back. And the spell weakened.

The clone then killed the twins and Nico was free. He fell down, gasping for breath, and the clone helped him stand up properly. Then Nico absorbed the clone and got back some of his power.

Then he cracked his knuckles and shadow travelled in front of the infirmary, where he had sensed the presence the centaur, Chiron and a few other campers. He figured that if the mentor, the head of the camp died than the leaderless campers would be subdued easily.

So he walked right into the building to see that the floor was empty. He searched with the shadows and saw them shifting beds onto the second floor.

So he walked up the stairs and then said in a loud voice, "Hello centaur, I hope you led a happy life, because now I'm going to end it."

He then walked into the room and the next moment he found himself hung up by his foot on a rope. He scoffed and said, "You plan to stop me with a rope? Seriously, you got to be kidding me. I am the warrior of the great entity of Tartarus and …."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. FYI that is not a normal rope, but it is pure celestial bronze. You can't get out of it even if you want to." said Will Solace, while smirking.

Nico had a surprised look on his face which was soon replaced by laughter. He was laughing so hardly that his stomach started aching.

Annabeth had a look of annoyance on his face when she asked, "What's so funny, Nico? Is there some joke that we missed?"

Nico simply unsheathed his sword, which was made by the essence of Tartarus, and struck at the celestial bronze, cutting it in one strike.

He somersaulted and landed on his feet. Then he grinned and said, "You were saying?"

"Child, what has happened to you? Please come back to us, we will help you. Don't do this. There still is hope for you. Please come back." said Chiron.

"Shut up centaur, I don't want to hear anything from you. I will make sure that you bow down to me." Then Nico raised his hand to stomach level and concentrated. Out of his shadow, a small box popped out and fell into his hand.

Then Nico smirked and said, "Do you know what this is? I'll tell you what this is? This is a prototype that the Hephaestus children were building. This instrument has the ability to weaken one's mental state and be vulnerable enough to be controlled by the user. Now I will test it on you centaur."

Annabeth took out her knife and charged while Will readied his bow and took out his arrow. Chiron shouted, "There are wounded in here. Do not fight here."

"My fight is not with you bugs but with your teacher; move out of my way. Or wait …. You three are strong fighters, I will control all three of you." then Nico started laughing again.

Then he gripped his sword tightly and swung at Annabeth, missed her but rotated himself and kicked her in the stomach. Annabeth bent down but swung her knife, aiming for the prototype. With an amazing display of agility, he pulled back his hand holding the prototype, making Annabeth stumble forward and then struck her on the back of her head with his elbow.

Then he jumped back, dodging the arrows shot by Will, which got lodged in the wall. But then Annabeth clung onto him and jumped through the window of the second wall.

Nico managed to cushion their fall by using a mattress of shadows. But then he got fired upon by a barrage of arrows all shot by Will. Nico barely dodged them but then he also had to defend himself against Annabeth's attack.

He used his shadows and formed a clone, who engaged Annabeth. Then he turned his attention towards Will.

**Line Breaker**

Percy was fighting a battle against Artemis and Thalia and was on equal footing with them both. Thalia had lost her sword but was now using a spear she found on the ground.

Whenever he slashed at Artemis, she dodged and countered, Percy blocked and then he got stabbed by Thalia. But he had managed to inflict some wounds on both of his opponents too.

Artemis had a deep cut in her abdomen while Thalia had a long cut on both her hands and she was limping also.

Then Artemis used her godly power and fired a blast at Percy. He dodged it but kept getting fired upon again and again. He ran in a circle and the blasts harmed both campers and monsters.

A few of her blasts reacted exploded in the water. The reaction created a really huge wave that flooded more than half of the battlefield.

When the water level went down, Percy was standing with all his wounds healed. While Artemis and Thalia were soaked and gasping for breath, he attacked the two of them with a flurry of attacks. Various cuts appeared on their bodies.

Artemis managed to fire one more blast of godly energy which hit the mark. Percy flew back and crashed into a tree.

Artemis saw the opportunity, ran towards Percy, took hold of his hands and stabbed them to the ground with one hunting knife.

Percy struggled and struggled but even his superior strength couldn't free him from this trap. Artemis took out many hunting knives and stabbed Percy in the back and the legs and the arms. Then she smirked and said, "I finally caught you asshole. Now I will torture you to the content of my hearts and then let my hunters torture you. Then I will present you to the council who will torture you all the more for killing so many of their children. I will make you feel our pain."

"Nice work my lady, you finally caught him. Now what do we do? Hey wait… where is Percy looking?" asked Thalia.

Both Artemis and Thalia and followed Percy's point of line and saw the infirmary, where Nico was battling Will and Annabeth was fighting a shadow clone of Nico.

**Line Breaker**

Nico had created many shadow arrows and was shooting them with a lot of power at Will.

Then he started creating various weapons and throwing them at Will. The son of Apollo had to crouch and dodge this, opening the window of opportunity for Nico to approach Will, as in close combat, Nico would be the sure winner.

Nico created a ramp from the ground to the broken window of the second floor. When Will saw that Nico was close, he threw away his bow and unsheathed his sword. Then he slashed at Nico's head who just blocked and used the shadows to create spikes in the ground.

Will had to run back just to dodge them, but he tripped and fell down. Then the spikes shot out from the ground and travelled towards Will at high speed. He closed his eyes, not wanting to witness his own inevitable death.

After a few moments, Will looked up to see that there were no spikes headed his way. In fact, there were no spikes at all. He looked at Nico and saw that there was one arrow entering Nico's body from one shoulder blade and sprouting from the other.

Nico himself was stunned, and badly hurt. He turned very slowly, and with a lot of pain, to see Chiron holding a bow and a few tears coming out of his eyes.

"Child, I told you that if you come back then all can be well again. But you just didn't listen." said Chiron.

Nico was quiet for a while and then he started laughing again. "You think you've defeated me, you think that now I will apologize for making a mistake and die in peace and all that shit. Well, you've got it all wrong, centaur. The battle is still not over. Let me tell you, I handed the prototype to my clone, that's why I don't have it. Right now, Annabeth is in my control, and if I remember properly, then if the user of the instrument dies, all the people controlled by the instrument will also die. Your precious Annabeth will …." Then Nico stopped talking and fell down.

Annabeth was standing behind Nico with a knife in her hand. "If it was that easy to defeat me, then I wouldn't have survived the Titan War. You got it all wrong, Nico. No clone can defeat me. It was a matter of minutes before I knew that fighting your clone was useless. If it is a shadow then it cannot be defeated …. as long as it remains in the light. So I simply led your shadow clone into the shadow of this building and it was over. It looks like you will die alone. I'm ….. I'm sorry it all had to end this way."

Nico laughed a bit more and said, "It still isn't over. For all your planning you missed one thing." Annabeth frowned, "And what's that?"

"You had your chance and you ….. blew it. You should have cut my …. head off and completed the job. Till I have my shadows ….. I cannot die." said Nico.

Then Nico didn't speak anymore. Percy had been seeing all this along with Thalia and Annabeth. When he saw Nico fall, something inside of him snapped and he started feeling very, very … angry.

Thalia and Artemis were still talking, "And now the other _boy_is dead too. I can't believe Bianca had a brother like him. Well now, that we have captured one and killed the other, it's time to let the campers take care of the monsters and for me to take these two to Olympus … or better, my camp. I'll …"

She was interrupted by Thalia, "Lady Artemis, what's happening to Percy? He's seems different." Both Artemis and Thalia stared curiously at Percy, who was glowing red and brown.

His skin was transforming and certain lines were appearing on it. "Why in Hades' name is he glowing?"

Suddenly a beam of light came out of his body and went straight into the sky. "Thalia, step away, and tell all the campers to retreat to the other end of the battlefield. Something strange is going on and I don't like the looks of it."

"My lady, what is happening?" asked Thalia in a worried tone. "We both are about to know very soon. Now hurry." replied Artemis

Thalia went away and told other campers to retreat. Seeing the beam of light, some monsters screeched and all of them retreated too.

Scales appeared on Percy's skin and his body started expanding in size. The hunting knives broke away and a huge amount of power started oozing from his body.

Percy's clothes tore away and his skin's color changed to brown. His teeth became much sharper and his hands shrunk into microscopic parts on the body. The body elongated and the legs joined together. His tongue had transformed into a forked tongue and had become much longer.

Percy had become a very big snake. A very big and angry snake.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Olympus**

Zeus and Hades were in a standstill. Both had been fighting for nearly an hour and yet it was nearly impossible to decide who was winning. Hades had burn marks all over his body from the rigorous shocks that he had taken but Zeus too had bruises and cut marks in various places.

Hades then said, "Zeus, I command an army of the dead. The moment I call them you will be defeated. But the only reason I'm not doing so is because I don't want to harm my new kingdom."

"If you command the army of the dead, I command all other Olympians. Hades, this time there will be no mercy. This time I will prove to you why I am the king of the gods, AND IT IS BECAUSE I AM THE STRONGEST!" shouted Zeus.

Then they both ran towards each other and started fighting again. All the other Olympians were still in the throne room because none of them wanted to interrupt in the fight.

Zeus stabbed at Hades with the Master Bolt but Hades ducked and punched Zeus in the stomach, then in the face and then he threw him on the ground, face first.

By the time Zeus had gotten up, Hades had disappeared, of course, with the help of his Helm of Darkness. Zeus started seething and sent little bolts of electricity into all the shadows in his surroundings.

Hades stumbled out of one and Zeus, as quick as lightning, whacked Hades in the face with the Master Bolt. Then Zeus ran towards Hades to deal with the final blow but was suddenly frozen in his tracks. Hades had trapped in his position.

Earlier in the fight, Hades had done it but Zeus had broken out of the spell easily. But now that the fight was in its latter stages and Zeus was comparatively worn out, it was quite tough for the king of gods to move at all.

Hades then limped over to Zeus and then whispered, "I told you again and again that I am the better one, the elder god and thus, the more powerful one. But just because I let you run rampant, like the little dog that you are, you thought of yourself as the king. You are nothing, just a beggar of a god who is so power-hungry he'd rather kill his own family then give up his power for the good of this world."

Then Hades committed the final act of disgrace that any god could suffer, Hades spit on Zeus' face. Then Zeus spoke in a voice which was so cold that he himself didn't know that he was speaking like that. "Brother, do you why gods have domains, it is so to make sure that each god has an area where he can never be bested no matter what. My domain is the sky and also Olympus, and in here I can never be defeated."

"I agree, but what if a god's domain is penetrated and made ….. I don't know, open? What if the god of the sky is neither in sky nor in contact with Olympus? Because now that I have covered us in this shadow dome, you are no longer connected to Olympus. If I shadow travel to the underworld, it will be your end. And thus I ask you for the final time in your eternal life, will you bow before me, acknowledge me as your superior, and step down as I become the new king of the gods?" questioned Hades, with a smirk on his face.

"Now that we are in this shadow dome, I have no need of holding back." said Zeus.

Hades was puzzled and just as he muttered the word, 'whaa…" Zeus let out the full force of the Master Bolt, in one final attempt to defeat his brother; Zeus used all his power and focused it all on Hades. The Master Bolt is not called the most powerful weapon in existence just like that, it is because it is the most powerful that it is called so.

And Hades was perhaps feeling the worst shock in his life. Imagine a shock of approximately 10 billion volts. Count that and you are _somewhat_ near the amount of electricity that the shock contained.

The shadow dome disappeared and so did Hades' hold on Zeus. Random sparks let out from the bolt crashed into the walls and the ceiling and the numerous pillars, destroying the infrastructure of Olympus (again).

By now all Olympians had come out of the Throne room and were now standing in the grand hall, all of them horrified at the sight. After the Master Bolt was thoroughly exhausted, and there was no glow left in it at all, the electrocution stopped and Hades fell to the floor. Zeus then let out a sigh and said, "Let this bastard lie here only. It will be a message to all that nobody challenges me, the king of the Gods and lives to see another day."

And as soon as Zeus turned to walk back to the Throne Room, his eyes widened and he fell down. Standing behind him was …

**Camp Half Blood**

Artemis had been a goddess for many millennia, but never in her eternal life had she ever seen anything like this before. Percy had transformed into a huge snake. The goddess of the hunt had no idea what to do.

The camp was in chaos, her hunters were routed, and many of the cabins were destroyed. The only reason Artemis had not revealed her true god form and fought Percy with all her strength was because there were many campers, and even if she hated the male gender, she still didn't want to kill them in a mass-genocide.

So she shouted out to the back, "All the campers, hunters, and everybody else, evacuate the camp right now. It is no longer safe …"

The snake hit Artemis with his tail and she crashed into a tree, bringing it down. She immediately sent a message to every Olympian, "I need help, Perseus has unleashed his full power and I cannot hold him until all campers evacuate."

But unfortunately for her, due to the troubles in Olympus, not one god her plea for help. This could turn into a big disaster for Artemis.

Not many heard Artemis' order to evacuate, and those who did could not bring the others to follow, as some of the campers were engaged with the still retreating forces of the monsters, while others were mourning the loss of their siblings and friends, while some were just running around, too scared to do anything.

Artemis got up and readied her bow and arrow. She then used some of her pure god energy and healed all her wounds. Then she ran towards Percy, shooting arrows all the way.

Even though her shooting speed was very fast, the former son of Poseidon was able to slither here and there and evade most of them.

And due to the thick armor like scales, the arrows that did strike the snakes body did no harm at all. It then opened its mouth wide and struck the area where Artemis had just been standing, and he would have eaten the goddess had she not been moving.

Artemis then shot at the same spot again and again, in hope of breaking or denting the armor, but to no avail. All it did was deplete her quiver.

The snake then spit out some venom/poison from its fangs and it landed on a tree. In the next few moments the poison burned through it so brutally that even the body of the nymph did not remain.

"I certainly don't want that on me" – though Artemis. She then started firing blasts again and they only seemed to push Percy back a bit. Artemis had no choice, if she was to win this fight, then she had to turn into her godly form.

She looked around to see if any campers or hunters were still in the area or not, but unfortunately there were still some campers who still had to evacuate. She shouted, "All of you leave now. If you stay here any longer you will die."

But this was where everything went downhill for the Olympian. For Percy needed only these few seconds to gain the advantage on Artemis. He spit a lot of the toxic venom on Artemis, and it burned through her. She screamed in pain, dropping all her weapons and clutching herself.

Then Percy went down to eat the goddess of the moon and he would have if a _huge _bolt of lightning had not struck him, surprising him more than hurting him.

It was of course Thalia, who had done so, for she shouted next, "Leave her alone and fight me Percy. I will crush you."

She then readied Aegis and made a spear of pure lightning. Then she ran towards the snake, determined to end it once and for all. She threw the lightning spear at the snake's eyes and as soon it got near, a bolt of lightning hit the spear, increasing its size ten-fold. The spear hit Percy right on the eye.

Percy shouted and spit venom everywhere. Till then Thalia had run towards Artemis and shielded them both from the spit using Aegis, which of course was not affected by the spit.

Thalia then formed another spear of lightning and threw it, this time too at the eye. But Percy was ready. He slithered beneath the spear's path and then crept towards Thalia quickly.

**Line Breaker**

While all this fighting was going on, Annabeth and Chiron had given some ambrosia to Will, and then they carried Nico to the first floor of the big house, which was miraculously still intact.

They used celestial bronze chains to bind him, and Annabeth especially made sure to keep Nico's sword, which had fallen on the ground, with her so that he wouldn't free himself again.

After that the trio helped everyone else evacuate, as they had heard Artemis' cries. After making sure that no one was left in the camp, Annabeth ran towards the fight which was happening near the creek.

Chiron tried to stop her, but even Will ran behind her. Chiron shook his head and went on to carry an unconscious Nico to the van.

Annabeth had been horrified when she saw Percy transform into that big giant snake and this diminished her hope of him becoming normal again even more. But then she shook her head and focused on what was in front of her.

Thalia was striking Percy from every side with huge lightning bolts whilst defending Artemis and herself. But the daughter of Athena knew that she couldn't keep this up for very long.

She could see that the lieutenant of the hunters was starting to stagger, and her lightning bolts were getting weaker and weaker.

So Annabeth did the one thing she could do. She ran behind the snake and started climbing up from his tail. Slowly but steadily, she reached the head of the snake.

She then took out her knife, whispered, "I'm sorry, Percy" and then stabbed him on the head. Percy screeched in pain and started shaking his head heavily. Annabeth could not maintain her balance and was thrown off in front of Thalia. She stumbled up, picked up a stone and threw it at Percy's head.

When Thalia saw Annabeth she motioned for her to go away but then fell down, unconscious. In the meantime, Will too had arrived at the scene and had taken out his bow and arrows.

Will then sent a prayer to his father, and started shooting fire and sonic arrows at Percy. His aim was good enough to make Percy slither back a little.

All the while Annabeth carried Thalia and Artemis, who had gone unconscious because of the pain, under a tree, and laid them there. Then she took Artemis' bow and quiver, and ran back to where Will was. She then sent a prayer to Artemis and her mother and then started shooting arrows at Percy.

This went on for a few minutes till Percy spit a bit of his venom on them. They managed to dodge the acid, but in the process gave Percy enough time to recover and slither towards them to eat the two half-bloods.

He was just a few feet away and Annabeth had closed her eyes. Will saw a silver blur appear in front of them and stop them snake with one hand.

It was Artemis and her eyes were glowing with power. She was about to release her true form so Will shut his eyes and told Annabeth to turn back.

**Line Breaker**

Artemis finally felt all the power flowing through her. She was holding Percy by the neck and was squishing with the all that she could.

Percy kept spitting venom but it evaporated as soon as it came near her. Then it slowly coiled its tail around Artemis' body and then pressed tightly (like a boa constrictor), while the goddess kept pressing the snake's throat the whole time.

They both were choking each other and it was now a battle of who would last longer and who would give in first. They both were radiating with power, glowing even, Percy a dark brownish red, with a tint of black, while Artemis glowed silver.

And then suddenly all that faded away. They both had exhausted their power. Artemis' god power was gone and she looked like a normal young woman, albeit a very tired one, while the snake was turning back to Percy.

As Artemis fell she called out to the two half-bloods. Both Will and Annabeth looked and rushed to Artemis'side. But she only pointed in Percy's direction and croaked out, "Get him".

Will nodded and then picked a sword which was lying nearby. Then he rushed to where Percy was lying, and stabbed him in the chest. He pulled out the sword and was about to do so again when Annabeth shouted, "Will, look out, behind you."

Will turned around just in time to have himself stunned to the point where he saw nothing and felt nothing except his own body which was surprisingly getting lighter. Then he was punched in the stomach and then on the head and he was out cold.

Annabeth was surprised when she saw that it was Chiron who had done that and riding on him was Nico, with a huge smile on his face. "Well, it looks like our plan was successful. What a delight."

"Delight? You call this a delight? Scores of campers and hunters and magical creatures dead or injured. The whole camp in ruins. How is any of this delightful you sick little bastard?"shouted Annabeth.

"Well, I didn't say it was a delight for you, now did I? Anyways you just summarized our whole plan. And as always, like in a good war story, after the destruction of a civilization, now comes the warning." Then Nico's expression turned serious. "Be warned, daughter of Athena. You know not what you face and what you don't know could hurt you terribly. Believe me when I say that as of right now a quick death is the one thing you should start asking for from your mother because when this war begins you will be tortured to the extent where you would do anything just to survive. This was just a portion of our power. The true limits of master's powers are not known to anyone but himself. Convince the gods that they should surrender, because if they don't, then they will suffer the same fate as did the god of war."

After that Nico kicked Chiron at the side and pointed toward Percy. Chiron bent down to pick Percy up and Nico slapped him on the back of his head. "Work faster mule".

After that the three rode off until even the dust left behind had settled and there was silence everywhere once again.

**Tartarus**

"Ah, they have done it. Now that the demigods have been uprooted from their home of many millennia, they have nowhere left to go except for Olympus. And as few a number as they are, they do not present any threat to me at all. They are not even enough to sustain the will of the gods. The second part of my plan will now begin. Along with the internal strife in the Throne Room of Olympus, the second part of my plan has just begun. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"


	15. Chapter 15

**Guys don't forget to review. I know that I have been gone for almost a year but that is because I was in the process of shifting. I'm sorry for the delay, but from now on I will try to be regular. Just review and tell me how the chapters are coming.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

After having Hades beat up horribly, Zeus flashed out of the scene. All the other gods were stunned in silence as they reeled in about what had just happened. Zeus had used all his power in an all-out attack to take out Hades.

They had never seen anything like this before. All gods had different expressions. Hephaestus, Hermes, Poseidon, Hestia, and Demeter were all sad, Athena was grimacing, Apollo's jaw was hanging all the way down to the floor, Aphrodite too was sad but because there was so much hate in the atmosphere, Hera had flashed away as soon as the fight ended, but with a smirk on her face, and Hebe was confused, whether to be sad or happy or show no expression at all.

Then Apollo suddenly looked up and said, "Artemis is in danger". All gods faced him as he continued, "As we are twins we have this connection where whenever one of us is seriously injured or in danger. This link had been going on for a while but I had ignored it because of the fight. SHIT, she is the demigod camp and she needs help."

Apollo then told Hebe, "Take care of Hades", then flashed away to Camp Half Blood in a hurry and all the other gods followed him. Hebe was left standing with a confused expression as to what to do - Listen to her brother and help Hades or listen to her father and leave him there?

**Line Breaker**

Meanwhile, Zeus was pacing around in his palace, with Hera sitting nearby. Zeus was ranting on and on about how this act would propagate more acts of rebellion and how he made a mistake by saving his siblings from their father's stomach.

Hera kept quiet the whole time. After he was finished, she said, "Husband, you have defeated your brother. After seeing your power, nobody will rebel against you. You need to rest."

"I can't rest, not now. There are so many things to be done. Fight this new war against somebody about whom we know nothing, destroy Perseus Jackson for making Ares' life a living hell, bring all the gods back under control and defeat Posei …. ". Zeus' eyes widened as he shut himself up as he realized that he had almost revealed a very dark secret.

"What did you just say? Did you say you had to defeat Posei …. don? What is going on here that you aren't telling me? Is there something going on between you and Poseidon. Are you fighting with him too now? What haven't you told me?" went on Hera.

"It's nothing darling, just a small thing. It nothing to fret about." said Zeus with a nervous laugh and an obviously fake smile.

"Zeus you can't hide anything from me. And when the two of you are involved in anything, it is never 'nothing to worry about'". said Hera while standing up, with frown on her face.

"I told you, it is just something that I came up with, a small prank was that I have been playing against Poseidon, and he has been losing consistently. That's all. Now I need to deal out a few more pranks and win the war." said Zeus, with the nervous smile still on his face.

Hera's frown stretched but after a while she sighed as her shoulders dropped and she said, "You are my husband. If you want to lie to me, fine, go ahead. But you should know that whatever the matter is, I would have supported you no matter what."

Then she walked away, leaving Zeus alone to contemplate in silence. Zeus grimaced and he called out to one of the Winds*, "I have a job for you. Now listen very carefully, this is what you have to do…."

**Line Breaker**

Apollo flashed into Camp Half – Blood along with all the other gods to see, brazen wasteland with rubble and ruins everywhere. Apollo thought he had come to the wrong place when he saw a girl leaning over another person.

He quickly ran their while the other gods followed him. Demeter said, "What the hell happened here? I know I come here very less but even I know that Camp Half-Blood doesn't look like this. At least it didn't, the last time I came here."

"Obviously something bad happened, and I willing to bet it was an attack by somebody. And that's what the distress signal was all about. I should have paid more attention." said Apollo, face-palming very hardly.

As soon as they got close they could make out who the two people were. Annabeth was leaning over Artemis and crying loudly. Athena rushed to her comfort her daughter while Apollo immediately began healing his sister.

Meanwhile, all the other gods were discussing as to what could have happened in the camp. Hermess' voice was the loudest, "I bet that a very powerful being came and destroyed the whole camp."

Hestia responded, "Child, everybody knows that. What we are trying to figure out is who would have done so." "Isn't it obvious, it has to be that brat Jackson and his goth cousin. Nobody else is powerful enough to do so." replied Hephaestus.

By this time Annabeth had stopped crying and Athena told all the other gods to shut up as Annabeth narrated the destruction of the camp. Everybody was horrified as they heard what happened. Nobody had been spared; all those who could be were killed. Out of the 40 or so campers that had remained after the giant war, only about 10-12 remained.

Then Aphrodite spoke up, "So if there are so many less demigods, what would happen to us? Wouldn't we be weakened? And there must be some god who might not have any demigods left."

Annabeth then said, "All those who could evacuate are now on their way to Olympus. And also, Chiron is now on the side of the enemy."

All gods were shocked. All gods were having the same thought – How can Chiron go against the demigods, they are like his own children.

Then Apollo, who had been healing Artemis till now, spoke up, "So Percy was the one responsible for my sister's condition?"

Annabeth nodded in response. "Well, looks like it's time for me to slay another snake." said Apollo, grimacing the whole time.

Demeter replied, "It might not be as easy as you think. Percy might well already be way more powerful than the Python, who you killed all those years ago".

"It doesn't matter; nobody hurts my sister and gets away with it. Perseus Jackson will die". This was the first time that Apollo had ever used Percy's full name. This displayed how much Apollo hated him.

But then Artemis stirred and all except concern left the sun gods face. "Sister, are you ok? How are you feeling now?"

Artemis opened her eyes, looked at Apollo and said, "Call everyone now". "Everybody is already here. Wait let me send a message to Dad. There done. Now, don't move, I will take care of you."

Artemis nodded. Then Poseidon asked, "Did my son do all this? Did he destroy this camp?" Athena said, "Well it looks like that for sure. He destroyed the home of all our children. That puny little ... "

Poseidon broke into a sob and Hestia, Demeter and Aphrodite started comforting him. Hepahestus mumbled, "That's an appropriate response from one of the Big 3."

Then in a flash Zeus appeared along with Hera and said, "What happened Apollo, what was so urgent that you ... ARTEMIS MY CHILD WHAT HAPPENED?"

Zeus immediately bent down to Artemis and held her in his arms. "Who did this to you, tell me and I will wipe him off the face of Earth."

"Listen father, and all those who are present here, I have a ... proposition. With the amount of demigods that are remaining, we cannot sustain to fully engage in a war Perseus and his master and their army. I have seen it. And if we are to believe what the son of Hades told me, then they have even more in store for us. The point is, we can't win like this at any chance. We need allies."

Athena then interrupted, "We know that and talks have already begun". "They won't be enough and you know that better than me. What I'm saying is, we might need to bring in some help from the _other _side".

Athena's eyebrows went down for a second as she pondered about what Artemis had just said. Then she realized the meaning and said, "No that will be too dangerous. It will be catastrophic. We already have one war on our hands; we do not want one more."

Then Hermes interrupted, "Can anyone please tell me what you two are talking about? Who are these people from the other side?"

Hestia then explained, "She means the ones from the west." "Oh them ... wait no way, that will be catastrophic."

Athena just rolled her eyes. Then she took command of the situation, "Apollo, take Artemis, Annabeth and that boy lying there, he's your son, to the infirmary, Hera, gather the whole army, or whatever is remaining of it, Hephaestus, go and build something that will help us fight, Poseidon, rally your army of the seas, Demeter, ration every bit of eatable you can get on and conserve it for the armies of Olympus, we don't want the enemies to steal our resources, Hermes, go with that satyr, who is the Lord of the Wild and rally the Amazons and the nature spirits, Hestia, go along with Hebe, and talk to all the minor gods to convince them to fight on our side this time, I will try to find out who the enemy is. Aphrodite, go do whatever you can to help. GO NOW!"

Athena touched Zeus on the shoulder to stop him from leaving. Zeus turned to face her as everybody else flashed out. Zeus asked, "What happened?"

"Father, I need to talk to you in private. Let's go to my palace". Zeus nodded and the two of them flashed out of the camp.

**Line Breaker**

As soon as the two of them flashed in her palace, Athena started talking, "Father, you remember the little plan we were hatching?"

After a cursory nod from Zeus, Athena continued, "Well since the events that have taken place, I'm not very sure if we should continue on fulfilling it, at least not until this is war is over and we can assure ourselves that we are safe."

"No Athena, we need to keep this plan going on. I know that it is dangerous but we need to keep it up to assure ourselves that while we fight Perseus, I don't want to get stabbed from behind by my brother."

"But father, we have already lost Hades' and his support of the army of the dead. We can't allow suspicion to breed among us. It will destroy us quicker than the enemy."

"Athena, listen to me now, there will be no argument. The plan will go on, and you WILL work as I have told you to." Then Zeus flashed out of there, leaving Athena with a sinister grin on his face.

"Then that is what shall be done father; the plan will go on as it was supposed to ..."

**Line Breaker**

"After having heard and seen everything I had today, I really doubt that Percy will become ... Percy again. And I really don't want to lose my son. But then again, I can't go against my family. Damn it, this is so confusing. All thanks to my fatal flaw. But first I think I should check up on Hades to see how he is doing". mused Poseidon.

So instead of flashing back to Atlantis, as he was supposed to, Poseidon instead went to Olympus. When he went there he saw Hades still lying in the pool of his own ichor. Hebe was sitting next to him, healing him slowly, but she couldn't do much after the beating he had suffered. She was not a goddess of healing after all.

"Hebe, that will be enough. You should go now. I will see to it that he is taken care of." said Poseidon, as he neared the scene.

Hebe stood up immediately, bowed and then left, releasing a sigh of relief as she went away. Poseidon looked at his elder brother with pity and sympathy. He then touched Hades and teleported them both to his capital city.

**Line Breaker**

As soon as Poseidon appeared in Atlantis, his wife and son rushed towards him. "Father, we sense death, is everything ... Oh, Uncle Hades is here and... Oh my Zeus, that is some beating he must have taken".

Poseidon rolled his eyes and ordered Triton to call the royal physicians to his personal quarters. A few minutes later, Hades was lying on a king – sized in the guest room of Poseidon's palace.

The best of the best physicians were tending to him, making sure he would stay alive. Contrary to what, Zeus and mostly all others believed, Hades' and Poseidon's relations were not as strained as with their younger brother.

They were comparatively at ease with each other. Meanwhile, Poseidon was sitting on his bed and Amphitrite was trying to console him about the loss of Percy.

It wasn't because she cared for Percy but because of her husband. "Listen, you couldn't have done anything, it is not your fault. Kronos always had this plan from the start and you couldn't have done anything to stop it from taking place. Right now you need to focus your concerns on raising an army to help Olympus survive through these tough times".

Poseidon kept listening and crying, but didn't show even a little interest in responding. So Amphitrite sighed, got up and walked away. Next came Triton, who only said, "Father, if Percy were still alive, he and I might have gotten to know each other better".

To this Poseidon responded by smiling and saying, "I'm sure you would have son, I'm sure you would have."

**Line Breaker**

Percy and Nico were once again in Tartarus, this time with Chiron as 'the voice' was talking to them. "Very nicely done Percy. You did a nice job of destroying the camp and fighting Artemis. I'm very proud and impressed with you. You have almost completely made sure that my inevitable rise is now going to be quicker. Nico, you fought a bit sloppily. You got hit by a son of Apollo. Try better next time".

"But master, I was the one who was responsible for the destruction of the camp. Perseus just turned into a snake and rattled about with the daughter's of Zeus". cried Nico.

"Silence, you will not back answer me". And then an invisible force whacked Nico on the face and he flew behind, crashing into the wall. "Yes master I will keep that in mind. I will do better next time". said Nico, while grinding his teeth.

"Anyways, now that's behind us. Listen to what you have to do next. Today while you two were in Camp, Zeus and Hades had a fight on Olympus. Hades was defeated badly and is right now in Atlantis, in care of Poseidon. Because of his absence, the whole of the underworld is in unrest. This is the perfect opportunity to release more beings from Tartarus as well as take over the underworld. I don't want a pesky army of the dead to interrupt with my plan so I shall take it for mine. As of right now, the people handling the underworld are Persephone, Thanatos, the Erinyes, and the furies. Defeat them all and we will have the underworld in our hands with no one to oppose us. Go on, and make me proud. And Nico, release Chiron form your mind control and leave him here. I will personally 'talk' to him".

Both Percy and Nico then disappeared in a black mist to do what they had to do – take over the underworld.


	16. Chapter 16

**The Underworld**

Nico was walking through the Fields of Punishment, picking the entities that were capable enough to join the army of their master. All the while he kept fighting, and killing, the guardians of the Underworld. Till now they had already gathered Perses, the titan of Destruction, Moros, the personification of doom, Tethys, Titaness of the sea, Coeus, titan of rational intelligence, and Themis, titan of divine law.

But he was specifically looking for one goddess. The one who could turn the tides of the war inexorably turn the odds in their favour. This was the goddess of the night, Nyx; one of the primordial gods involved in the creation of the all other entities, this goddess lay so beneath in the underworld that even Tartarus was above her cage.

And it was Nico's job to find her and bring her over to their side, no matter what happens. He had been collecting allies, just in case he would need to fight and conquer the will of the primordial goddess of night.

As of that moment they were quite near to the entrance to the hellfire's of the underworld, the place which contained the gates to Nyx's cage. Their only obstacle would be the guardians of the cage; Momus, Philotes, Geras and Oneiroi; all children of Nyx.

Defeating them would no easy task, but he had the support of some of the strongest titans of their age, so he was sure that victory would be his. But this victory held more than just the attainment of Nyx, it held the chance for him to overtake the importance of Perseus and be the recognized as the supreme champion of his master.

And so he would do anything he could to get Nyx and then ….. Perseus would bow down to him. But for now, he had to focus on the mission in hand. The following battle would be a tough one. So he turned around and addressed his allies, "The time we have been waiting for has come. Now we have to defeat the guardians and conquer the power of the night. We have to defeat them at all costs. And remember, the master will reward all of you for your brave efforts and your contribution in this war. And so …. Go and make him proud."

All the titans cheered and then ran towards the gate of fire, which was guarded by the 4 sons of Nyx. Noticing the small gathering of titans they too ran and charged towards the fighters, fighting to protect the sanctuary of their mother's cage form being invaded by outsiders.

**In the Throne Room**

"Whatever has happened till now has all been your fault. Your poor governing, your battles with other Olympians, creating such a divide, it is because of you that we are in such a predicament. We have wasted so much of our time in such useless meetings when we could be searching for Perseus or gathering information on who are enemy actually is." shouted Hestia.

"You should not talk in that way to the king. It is because of me that Olympus has survived till now with minimal damage. It is because of me that we have had peace in our lands for so long. And all this is happening because of Poseidon's child. How dare you put the blame on me?" shouted Zeus.

"Poseidon has nothing to do with this. It was Kronos' plan and your folly that has resulted in the destruction of our age. If only you had handled family more carefully than Artemis would not be lying in such great pain in the Olympian infirmary." shouted Apollo.

"How dare you talk to your father like that? You should apologise to him right now if you know what's good for you." shouted Hera.

"And why shouldn't he talk that? Zeus and his poor governing are the reason we are in this predicament. This problem is the result of Zeus' idiosyncrasies. If only he had made peace with Poseidon and Hades, but no, Zeus had to have everything, it's all his fault." shouted Demeter.

"Will everybody please shut up? Now is not the time for us to bicker among us, but to unite our abilities and powers and destroy the enemy. This is the first time that we have been in so much danger. The count of demigods is only of 10 or 11, we have just come out of war with Kronos and his count of titans, and thus we are all weakened, we lost 3 of the Olympians in a few days, and the Olympian armies are in ruin. We have no option but to call in the _others._" explained Athena.

"Calling them will only ensure one thing, the annihilation of _our _demigods. As of now, there power is also not that strong. They came out of a war too, even if it was a minor one only. Their losses and sorrow are ever-present, but their hatred for the Greeks is greater. But it is also true that if we don't take their help, we won't have any other option left but to surrender and let the enemy have it all." said Apollo.

"I have a plan. What if we erase the memories of one of the Greek demigods, send him or her to the roman camp in pretext of him or her being a new demigod. Then we shall send him or her along with 2 romans on a quest which will open the eyes of the Roman demigods and show them the plight of the Greek Gods and Demigods?" said Hera.

"The plan is too risky, if the Romans find a Greek within them, they will butcher him or her without a moment's thought. Also, if the romans decide to take this as an opportunity to attack the Greeks and effectively destroy them forever, it will result in the eradication of us as well. We can't survive only while being our roman sides." argued Athena.

"How about this; we get all the demigods we have all over the world, to come to Olympus and make an army of them, then we try to make a stand and if we fail we make Jupiter go to the Roman camp and command the armies there to fight the war, because it is quite imminent that if they defeat the Greeks they will obviously go before the romans." said Hermes.

"It is decided then, we will involve the romans in this war, if and only if, the Greeks lose." announced Jupiter. Then he disappeared in a flash of lightning, effectively ending the meeting.

All the other gods were also leaving. Aphrodite looked toward one of the pillars and winked, then disappeared in a heavy smell of perfume and a bunch of roses. Nobody else noticed the daughter of Athena who was hiding, and had listened to all the talk that had taken place, especially the talk about the romans. She ran out of the door and planned on telling all the other demigods about it.

While running she noticed a couple of bushes rustle. She stopped and then stared at the bushes. The bushes rustled again. She stepped closer and the rustling continued. She stared harder and came closer.

Suddenly out of the bushes a person walked out and Annabeth nearly fainted. She gasped very loudly and her feet went weak. She couldn't see anything but black for a while, and after a few seconds when she could stand and see properly, the person was standing right in front of her.

And that person was Percy. Not the Percy who had gone on a killing streak and made himself an immortal freak. No, this was the Percy before the titan war had ended. This was the Percy who was completely fine, with a normal face, no mask, no blood stuck on his jacket, his hair messed up like always.

Percy came and hugged Annabeth, then said three words which made Annabeth believe that all was fine again, "I missed you."

**Cabins – In Olympus**

Three cabins had been made near the palace of Hestia, as she was the goddess of the hearth and the home, one for boys, one for girls and one for the hunters.

In the first cabin were 6 boys, two 7-year olds from the Aphrodite cabin, one 12-year old from the Hephaestus Cabin, and two 8-year olds from the Apollo cabin.

In the girls were 7 girls, also of various gods. The supervisor of the male cabin was the 12-year old child of Hephaestus named Peter, while the supervisor of the female cabin was Annabeth. All the girls were waiting for Annabeth to come so that they could call lights out.

The time was around 10:00pm. But there was still no sign of Annabeth. One of the girls, a child of Dionysus, by the name of Pamela went out to search for Annabeth.

**Elsewhere in Olympus**

Annabeth looked into Percy's sea green eyes and saw herself tearing up. She couldn't believe what was happening. Her Percy was back.

Suddenly Percy glowed a little and a moment later they were standing near a black building, which was an honorary palace for Hades. Nobody ever went there. It was one of the few places in Olympus which were avoided by everybody.

Percy then said, "I missed you so much Annabeth, you can't even imagine. I felt so trapped and it hurt me so much when I fought against you at the camp. I'm so sorry for that."

Annabeth just smiled, with tears pouring down and then replied, "It's okay. I'm just happy that we are together again." And then they kissed. It was a sweet passionate kiss. Then they stopped and looked into each other's eyes.

Annabeth asked, "Percy, will you stay with me now? Please don't leave me again. I won't be able to handle the pressure anymore. All of Olympus is out for your blood. But please just don't leave me."

Percy just kissed her again. This kiss turned into a full make-out session, with them feeling each other up. They were very much in love, and Annabeth's entire mind shield was down, she was just very happy to be with her Percy again.

The session went on for another 10 minutes after which Percy started unbuttoning her shirt. Annabeth pulled back and asked Percy, "Are you sure?" Percy just kissed her again and then took off her shirt. He picked her up, and put her against the wall, all the while kissing her. Then he took off his jacket and started to unhook her bra.

Annabeth ran her hands in his hair and only let out a small gasp when Percy took off her bra. Then the make-out session continued. After a few minutes later, a small but loud gasp came from somewhere near.

Both Percy and Annabeth looked towards where the sound originated from. A small girl was standing, with her hand over her mouth. Then she started running away. Annabeth pushed against Percy, wore her garments, and then started running after Pamela, the girl who had seen them.

Percy was left standing, with his head hanging down. His head then jerked towards the direction where Pamela had run, red lines protruding from his eyes and running down towards his cheek bones.

**Somewhere in Olympus**

Annabeth was running as fast as she could. In a few minutes she came to where she had last seen Pamela. There she stopped and started looking around. Behind her, Pamela came with a knife. She grabbed Annabeth's hair, put the knife to her throat, and asked, "What the fuck were you doing?"

Annabeth tensed, than replied, "Nothing. And why are you holding that knife to my throat? That is treason, to do so against the Architect of Olympus."

"Oh, stop the bullshit. Don't talk as if you're innocent. We both know what you were doing; getting felt up by that infidel Perseus Jackson." said Pamela, with an angry expression on her face.

"Don't talk like that about him. He is the hero of Olympus … ""He's the Bane of Olympus. it is because of him that almost all the demigods are dead. My brothers, all the children who are dead, it's all by his hand." said Pamela, with the anger rising through her voice.

Annabeth did not reply, but just swallowed her anger at being held like this. "Now listen, I have a very good mind to turn you in, seeing you die. It will be something from which even your mother won't be able to save you. You will not be the Architect of Olympus, but instead it's slut." said Pamela, with a grin appearing on her face.

Then Pamela went quite, with a deep look on her face. She then spoke, "I have another option. But until I decide what to do, you're my bitch. You'll do what I say. If you speak about this to anyone, I will talk, and when I do, it's the end of the road for you. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yes" murmured Annabeth. "Yes what?" "Yes Mam." Then Pamela let go of Annabeth, twirled the knife and whacked Annabeth on the head with the blunt side. Annabeth fell to the ground groaning, and then Pamela kicked her in the stomach twice.

Then she left, leaving Annabeth unconscious.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Percy was standing near the palace of Hades. His eyes were a dark red, and from them black lines were coming out, till the cheekbone. He was very angry. His mission had just been interrupted.

**Flashback**

'The voice' had stopped Percy for a special mission in his chamber. It said, "Perseus, I have a special mission for you. This mission will be different, because it involves not killing anybody, but getting somebody to our side. Now I would normally ask you to use the prototype we procured from the camp, but Nico has it so that he can capture Nyx. As the person you have to capture and bring here is Annabeth, I will transform you back to your previous form, where you look like Percy Jackson. My powers have grown enough to transport you directly into Olympus without you being seen by anyone, but from there you are on your own."

Then, black lightning hit Percy 7 times and when he got up again, it was Percy Jackson who got up again, but fully back to who he used to be. Black lines were protruding out of his eyes, running down to his cheek bones. 'Of course, there will be some mark of your previous identity, but in the end it will all be the same. Those black lines will disappear and will come back on your face only when your are feeling any type of emotion very strongly." explained 'the voice'

"Yes, my lord." said Percy. Then another lightning struck him, and he disappeared only to appear on Olympus, near the Olympians Throne Room

**Flashback End**

He was very angry and unhappy. His mission had been going well till now. He had decided that if this Annabeth liked him so much, then he would seduce her and make her come to their master's side.

But this other girl had interrupted them. He would have to hide on Olympus, maybe inside the palace of Hades, as nobody ever came there.

It would be difficult, but he would have to try again. After all, opportunities like this didn't come again and again.

He stood up, wore his clothes and went inside the palace of Hades. He would hide there till he got another opportunity to turn the daughter of Annabeth against Olympus.

**Somewhere Else**

Annabeth was still lying on the floor, drifting from sub-consciousness to consciousness and vice-versa. She had been hit very hard, but the shock of being hit by a fellow camper hurt her more than the blow itself.

After a few minutes, she got up, stumbling the whole way, but managed to complete the task. She then clutched her stomach and went to the cabins.

Along the way she thought, - I can't let Pamela talk about this to anyone else. If she babbles, then it will be almost impossible to regain the trust that I have obtained from the gods and demi-gods.

She neared the cabins then stopped. She calmed her mind, stood straight, acting as if though she was in no pain, and then said to herself, "You have been through much worse than this. A little blackmail is something you can easily tackle."

Then she walked into the girl cabin as if nothing had happened and the first person she saw was Pamela. She was sitting on her bed, sharpening her knife. She looked at Annabeth, then smiled and licked her knife.

She called out to all the other girls, "Lights Out." Everybody except a little 6 year old girl went to their bed. The girl approached Annabeth and said, "I am apraid. I want to see my big bruther. I miss him."

Annabeth smiled sadly. She knew the girl; she was a daughter of Aphrodite and had lost her brother in the massacre today. She didn't know about it though, she was too young to digest the fact that she had lost perhaps the only family she had in the world. Of course, technically the gods don't count as they rarely take care of their children.

Annabeth bent down, and said, "You will meet him later. Let me help you sleep, if you're feeling afraid."

The girl nodded enthusiastically, and then walked towards her own bed. Annabeth went with her, tucked her in, sat near her and sang a few lullabies.

After assuring that she was asleep, she went lay down on her own bed, tired, due to the events that had taken place today. Just as she was about to drift to sleep, she felt a heavy weight on her body.

Her eyes opened wide and she saw Pamela sitting on her stomach. "I thought about our meeting earlier, and I decided that keeping you in my control would be more fun than ratting you out to the gods. Of course, you should know that I do this only to use you and gain more favour among the gods. Once I become the Heroine of Olympus, then I will tell of your good deeds to your mother."

"You should know that doing this will only destroy Olympus. We demigods do not have the liberty to fight among us; we have to defeat the ever-present threat of the one who will surely destroy us all, only our unity can save us." Annabeth tried to escape from the situation.

"Oh please, if the gods unite then they can win in any situation. I have no worries about that. And if you are so concerned about the welfare of Olympus and its inhabitants, what were you doing, shagging up with the enemy? Huh?" asked Pamela, with a smirk growing on her face.

Annabeth had no answer and she just looked sideways. Pamela grabbed Annabeth's face and forced her to look at her. Then she said, "Believe me when I say that you have no option but to put yourself at my mercy. It is you, who committed the blunder, now live and deal with it."

Then she kissed Annabeth on the lips, forcing her tongue down her throat. As quickly as that happened, she then got up and went to her own bed, leaving Annabeth stuck in her own dilemma and misery.

**The Fields of Punishment**

Nico was fighting Momus along with Coeus, Perses and Moros were fighting Geras, and Philotes was fighting Tethys and Themis while Oneiroi was guarding the gate.

It was not as easy as Nico had assumed it would be. He was having a hard time holding his own against a child of Nyx.

He slashed at Momus's waist but the attack was fruitless because his momentum led him behind his enemy and his partner, Coeus faced the full fury of the child of Nyx.

Nico turned back and was about to stab Momus in the back but was thrown back by the motion of Momus' hand.

Nico crashed near the gate and saw Oneiroi standing absolutely straight, looking at the happening battle with non-caring eyes. This angered Nico because he assumed that for Oneiroi, the opponents were but a piece of cake, and Nico took it as a personal insult.

Nico got up and shadow tentacles raced toward the three sons of Nyx, controller of dreams and sleep. They looked towards Nico at the same time and the shadow tentacles stopped in their tracks.

Nico then raised his hands, and following the motion of hands, the tentacles lifted from the ground and raced towards Oneiroi, sub-dividing into more tentacles as they got closer to their target.

Morpheus raised his right hand and the shadow tentacles disappeared. Then Nico raised his hands upwards and a ball of darkness started growing. When it was about 2 metres in diameter, he threw the ball at the guardians of the gate.

Morpheus again raised his hands and took control of the ball, then blasted it back towards Nico. This scared Nico badly, and he barely managed to stop the ball from hitting him. The ball then just disappeared because of the excessive force being applied on it.

Nico soon realized that shadows were not going to help him that way anymore. So he materialized a sword made of darkness and then ran towards the Oneiroi, to engage them in a one on one battle.

On the other side of battlefield, Perses and Moros were fighting Geras and were actually gaining on him. Though it should be mentioned that Perses was the titan of destruction, so destroying something was in his domain, making him all the more powerful when in combat.

If the fight was taking place on the surface, people around would be deafened, buildings would be destroyed, just because the energy being released from the clashes of the swords of these three monsters was too much for the environment too take in.

Perses kept on using his godly powers to push Geras back, and while this took the concentration of the son of Nyx, Moros attacked his with his sword.

There were numerous cuts on Geras' body. In his anger he released a burst of energy and shouted, "You pathetic titans dare hurt me. Now I will kill you."

Then, with a sudden burst of speed, he ran towards Perses and stabbed him with his sword in the abdomen, then ran towards Moros and punched him in the face. He kept punching him till his nose broke. But even then he didn't stop.

He raised his hand, till his palm was facing Perses and with a surge of power from within himself, he pulled Perses towards him.

Then he pushed and released his hand in the direction of Moros. The bodies of the two titans crashed into each other and they both fell, barely conscious.

He then ran towards them, joined his fists and started hammering in Moros' back. He hammered till the skin peeled off, then he turned him around and started punching him on the face again.

Then he took out a small knife and started stabbing the unlucky titans face. He stabbed it so many times that by the time he was done, he was not recognizable at all.

Then he turned towards Perses. The titan of destruction was beginning to get up, albeit very slowly. Geras walked toward him slowly and kicked him near the kidney. Then he kicked him again. Then he raised his hands, muttered a spell and pushed it on the chest of Perses.

After a few moments Perses got up. He saw a huge creature standing in front of him. The creature pointed in a direction, and when Perses looked there, he saw another creature lying, though his size was slightly smaller than the one he had just seen.

Instantly he felt an intense amount of frustration towards the creature that was lying, so he got up and ran towards the creature. When he got there, he bent down and started choking him. Soon the creature awoke and grasped at the hands of Perses.

Moros then punched him on the face, and then he got up quickly. They both gasped and then started fighting each other. Geras started laughing loudly and shouted, "Fight my minions, fight. Destroy each other, and let me relish your wastes."

**Meanwhile …..**

Philotes had been having fun with Tethys and Themis. As she was the goddess of affection, friendship and sexual attraction, she was making them attracted towards each other.

Both the Titaness' kissed and felt each other up. This went on for a few minutes and then Philotes completely removed the feeling of friendship between them, making the enemies. As soon as this happened, they both started hitting each other.

This was making Philotes laugh, as she made them love and hate each other. She laughed and said, "My darling titans, you both make me feel so good, if one of you wasn't here, I would take the other one and make her feel so special, ah, the feeling is indescribable."

Then she walked towards the titans, and took out her diamond studded sword while doing so. She then sliced off Tethys' head, and was about to do the same to Themis when a shadow sword penetrated her from behind, and came out from her head, effectively taking her out form the fight.

But the damage had been done. Tethys had died and her essence returned to Tartarus, while Philotes was only injured for a short period of time.

Themis fell down unconscious. But before doing so, she saw the one who had saved her life. She saw that it was Nico, standing behind Philotes, gasping heavily, and blood dripping from his head, along with various other wounds.

**15-20 minutes ago**

Nico was deeply frustrated. He was locked into a stalemate with the three Oneiroi. They were more powerful than him while using magic and godly power, but he was far better than them in sword fighting.

So while he kept attacking them with his sword of darkness **(he felt it was too much to use his actual sword), **they kept protecting themselves with their magic.

He then formed two shadow clones, engaging two of the Oneiroi, leaving one for himself, the most powerful one, Morpheus. Both were slashing swords at each other, fending and deflecting each other's attacks.

Nico swung the sword on Morpheus' head, but Morpheus moved out of the way and kicked Nico. The kick was blocked by Nico's knee, and Nico performed a black flip, and then threw the sword like a javelin at Morpheus leg.

The shot hit its target and a howl emerged from Morpheus' throat. Then, Morpheus, in his rage, put Nico in a dream state, but Nico broke out of the magic easily, owing it to the mind damage he had suffered from 'the voice'.

Morpheus was surprised and lost precious seconds in stumbling back, which Nico used wisely by taking out his sword of darkness, running towards Morpheus and decapitating him.

Then he turned to watch that his shadow clones were losing the fight. He quickly ran towards Icelos who had just destroyed one of the clones. He slashed his sword at Icelos' knee. But the second Oneiroi jumped and kicked Nico on the head while in mid-air.

Nico crashed to the ground. He got up and almost got beheaded, and would have been, had it not been for his reflexes. Fortunately, he rolled backwards. But that could not prevent from a deep cut from appearing on his head, making the blood spurt out instantaneously.

Icelos jabbed the sword at Nico's face, but Nico deflected it with his sword and stabbed Icelos in the leg. Leaving the sword stuck there, he quickly formed a sword of darkness, and stabbed Icelos in the abdomen. He kept forming swords and stabbing the heavenly creature in various places, till there was no place left.

Then he got up, took out his sword, which was made from the essence of Tartarus and beheaded Icelos, effectively killing him and destroying his essence.

He felt a sharp pain on his skull. He looked behind him to see Phantasos standing with his sword held in one hand and his other hand, holding an object that was completely dark and made of shows.

Then Phantasos said, "My power is to be able to input inanimate objects into people's dreams. But my secret power is to be able to bring out such objects from the minds of people, and use them as I wish to. So whatever weapon you wish to create in your mind, I will be able to use the same weapon."

Nico could taste his own blood; it was dripping down faster water dripping down from tap. Nico knew that he had to end this fight quickly, if he didn't then he might die and also others might need his help and he the overall mission was to capture Nyx, not defeat the sons and be done with it.

So created a dome, one similar to the dome he had created in Camp-Half Blood, but proportionately smaller. Pointed sticks of shadow shot out from the dome, racing towards Phantasos, but he created a dome of shadows around himself.

Nico then ran through Phantasos' dome, but electric bolts struck him from above and he dropped his hand. But he endured the pain and forced himself through. Then he punched Phantasos on the face, then in the stomach.

Then he leg swept his legs from under him and elbowed him on the chest. Phantasos' breath left him and he gasped for air, coughing as he tried to get up. Nico raised his hands, dissipating the dome of shadows, but in these moments Phantasos whacked him on the face.

Then Phantasos picked up the sword which Nico had dropped, and hit Nico with the blunt side. Nico stumbled back, but then he looked up.

Anger was blazing in his eyes. He had had enough. He knew that if Percy was fighting in this battle, it would have been over long before. He screamed in frustration. Suddenly the earth rose up and covered him, making a sort of armour.

A sword came out of his hand, the sword was also made of Earth, but Nico could feel the power inside it.

It seemed as if the armour was controlling his limbs, because he couldn't feel anything. The armour was fighting a shocked Phantasos. The sword then cut off one hand, then the other and sliced the head off, killing the last Oneiroi that there was.

Then the armour melted down back to the ground, and al sensations and feeling returned to him. He turned around to see that Philotes was about to cut Tethys' head.

He ran towards her in hoping to intercept her movement, but failed. He ran faster and ran her through his sword, effectively taking her out of the fight.


	18. Chapter 18

**Guys, I'm back. Sorry for the long break but I will mostly be able to update only on weekends from now on. So, read on.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 18<strong>

Percy was in the palace of Hades in Olympus. He had been there for the past 3-4 hours, just sitting, waiting for his master's orders. Suddenly 'the voice' started speaking, "Perseus, the time has come. I need only the power equivalent of one Olympian to rise. But I have a plan. And in this way, you won't even have to fight the gods to fulfil the mission. You simply have to flood Olympus. Poseidon is busy in Atlantis, tending to Hades' wounds. So by the time he realizes what's happening, it will be too late. I will already have come out of this hell hole. You will open a portal, which will connect directly to the Indian Ocean. As it is far from the USA, or Greek, Poseidon's senses are weaker there. The portal from the ocean will flood Olympus, destroying the home of the Olympians and weakening there power to the extent that you will be able to kill them all in one blow each."

"Do this, and it won't be long before I rule the earth again. My army is marching to Olympus as we speak, and Nico is preparing for another heavenly being to join our side. If the Olympians have prepared an army they will still be crushed by the joint forces of this being and my army. Go now; do not delay, for the time draws near." Then 'the voice' disappeared from Perseus' mind, laughing as it left.

Percy stood up. He now knew what he had to do. He came out of the palace. There was not a sound anywhere. Everybody, even the gods were sleeping. Percy went towards the Throne Room, preparing himself for the destruction he was about to cause.

**Atlantis**

Hades had recovered slowly, even though he was a god, as the wounds he had sustained were quite lethal. If it hadn't been for Atlantis' excellent medical care, Hades would have faded long ago.

Poseidon had been sitting in the room next to the one in which Hades was being treated. He was tense with anxiety over the brutal fight between his two brothers and his inability to do anything.

After some hours, the doctors came out and one bowed to Poseidon and said, "Lord Poseidon, Lord Hades' condition is now stable. His wounds are deep but would heal in the next few days. O course, he has to stay in bed for the next few weeks to ensure a complete recovery, but otherwise he should be fine. He has regained consciousness and wants to talk to his brother."

Poseidon thanked the doctor and then walked into the room. He saw a man covered in bandages from head to toe; only his mouth and eyes were uncovered.

Hades saw his brother enter the room and grunted. He was happy to see that his brother had saved him. But there was always the feeling that he was not in a possible hostage situation. Of course Hades' concern was justified, considering the bloody history between the Big 3.

There was silence for the first few minutes. Then Poseidon broke it by saying, "Hades, I hope you're alright, I apologise for not intervening and saving you. I know that your ego would have been hurt but at least you would not have been this hurt."

Hades spoke in the way a drunken man would speak, "its ok. I finally realized that my little brother is stronger than me, but what I don't understand is why you haven't challenged him yet. I have fought you at your full power. I have fought Zeus at his full power. I know that your power is far superior to his. Your fatal flaw cannot be the only reason. There must be something else stopping you from overthrowing his dictatorship and establishing an actual and just system."

"Well, brother, how do I say this? Even though I know that I'm stronger than Zeus, the reason I have not challenged him yet is because I know that his downfall is near. There is a person who is perpetrating the death of Zeus, I cannot reveal the identity of this being, but I can tell you that this being won't fail." said Poseidon, with a small smile on his face.

"Then let us not talk about Zeus anymore. You tell me brother how have you been? It has been a long time since I came to Atlantis and I have to say that it has grown all the more beautiful. Ruined but beautiful. **(Annabeth has not redesigned the palace of Poseidon, so it is still damaged from the battle with Oceanus.)**" said Hades, smiling.

"It sure has been a long time, since either of us met in either of our kingdoms. But I can say that it has been good to have working relations with at least one of my brothers. But enough of small talk, I need to ask you one thing. Are you going to fight against Olympus now?" asked Poseidon with a frown on his face.

Hades didn't answer immediately. He looked at Poseidon's face for a few moments and could see the worry and fear of losing his loved ones growing in his eyes. Hades sighed and then said, "Well brother I am not against Olympus, but the next time I see Zeus, he will get one good scolding from his elder brother, that's for sure."

Poseidon and Hades then both started laughing and nobody sensed the waves of destructive emotions that were rolling off of Olympus, and how they were missing what could probably be the destruction of the gods.

**The Cabins – Olympus**

Annabeth could not sleep. After all she had been through, even though her body was extremely tired, her mind was running a race. She could not stop but think about her encounter with Percy, her fight with Pamela, and the delicate position she was now in.

She decided to go for a walk and calm her mind. As she went out, she thought of ways to get out of this mess. It wasn't her fault, she just believed in Percy more than the others did. She believed that he could come back to being the Percy he used to be, fighting for Camp-Half Blood, for his friends.

All this thinking was not allowing Annabeth to get a peaceful sleep. She got up, wore her shoes and walked out of the cabin. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards the palace of Athena, her mom, wishing for some guidance as to how to handle this situation.

But she knew that she couldn't very well let anyone know of what had happened. The events that had transpired had to stay between Percy, Pamela and her. Though it is very strange as to what Pamela was doing at that very time at that very place.

But she couldn't help the circumstances she was in. she was in dire need of a miracle, and the ones who could provide it were in a war. She had to somehow figure the solution to this one herself, as she always had to.

Suddenly she saw walking towards her from the other direction. She stopped and squinted, she couldn't figure out who it was because of the distance. She ran towards a nearby tree and hid behind it, not wanting to betray her position or the fact that she was up so late.

The person came near and revealed his identity to be … Percy. Annabeth's eyes widened. She was surprised to see that he was still here. And she could not understand how Percy had become normal. She never guessed the turn of events that had taken place and she felt very out of place.

She decided to follow him. Percy kept walking straight towards the Throne Room, he had already sensed that Annabeth was following him, but knowingly, he didn't do anything. "Too inquisitive for her own good" – thought Percy, while walking. "Well, let her join the fun as well, after all not all the pawns have played their first move. There are still a few curtains left to be unveiled" and then he laughed mentally.

Percy reached the Throne Room and kicked open the doors. A huge sound boomed. Percy knew that the gods would appear in a few minutes. So he jogged towards the centre and raised his hands, facing the ceiling with closed eyes, muttering a charm.

Annabeth knew that something bad was going to happen. The gods hadn't come from the sound, but of course it would take a few minutes for them as well. She couldn't let Percy do whatever he was planning to do, so she ran towards him and tackled him down.

They both fell to the floor. Percy whacked her on the face and she flew, crashing into the nearest throne, which happened to be her mothers.

She got up wearily and then ran towards Percy who was beginning to stand up. She climbed on his back and started head-butting him. He head-butted her back and she fell off.

She stood up quickly and kicked him, but he caught her foot, flipped her over and then kicked her on the face.

She went down, sliding the last few metres, her eyes bright and full of stars. She was barely conscious. But she still stood up, with all her effort and opened her eyes, bearing through the pain. She saw Percy raising his hands and looking up at the ceiling. Suddenly a tiny circle appeared out of nowhere, at least 7metres above Percy's head.

The tiny circle was increasing in radius, albeit a slowly. Annabeth blinked a few times and saw water coming out of the circle in drops.

She didn't understand what Percy was doing until a thought ran through her mind and her eyes widened. She heard voices behind her and saw all the remaining demigods coming with drawn weapons, being led by Pamela.

They were quite a distance away and wouldn't reach them in time. Annabeth had to do something on her own. She started walking towards Percy, slowly increasing her speed until she was in a full sprint. She reached him and punched him hard in the abdomen.

Percy kneeled over from the force and Annabeth kneed him in the face. Percy fell down and the circle stopped expanding.

Then the gods appeared, though not Poseidon and Hades, Hermes was the first one to react, he ran and caught Percy. But he got bit in the hand and stumbled back. Percy stood up with a somersault, and then shouted, "I will crush you all". This surprised the gods to no end as they couldn't believe seeing Percy in his normal condition and not burnt and all.

But all of them came out of their stupor and took out their weapons to attack. Apollo and Artemis took out their bow and arrow, Zeus took out his Master Bolt, Hera took out her diamond – studded dagger, Hermes took out his Caduceus, Hephaestus took out his hammer and tongs, Athena took out her spear and her shield Aeigus, and all of them attacked Percy together.

Percy just smirked and stood there while the arrows of Apollo and Artemis struck him in the heart. He stumbled back but his motion was intercepted by every other god except Zeus stabbing him with their sword, hammer, dagger and spear.

The aura around Percy changed. Mist surrounded him and moments later it dissipated to reveal the burnt Percy who wearing a mask. His eyes glowed and he raised his arms. The circle expanded exponentially and water started dropping out of it in tons.

All the gods were instantly dripping and the water had already reached 2 inches above the floor. The gods all jumped back and started floating in the air. The demigods then started attacking Percy. Percy extended his hand a sword formed in his hand, and he started fighting. Slowly he beat back all the demigods until only two were remaining; Annabeth and Pamela.

Both the girls attacked him with their hands, signalling for a melee hand to hand combat. Percy dropped his sword. Then the two demigods ran towards him. At that moment Hermes ran towards and Poseidon appeared in the background. He saw the water pouring out of the portal and immediately started working on stooping the water's flow. But he was literally fighting against the whole ocean.

So he was barely able to make a difference. Meanwhile, Hermes and Annabeth and Pamela were fighting Percy, but he was beating them effortlessly. Suddenly Hermes took hold of the girls and took them up in the sky. Percy was distracted by this move and didn't see Zeus stab the water with his lightning bolt.

Immediately a million bolts of lightning struck travelled through the water and hit Percy. Percy stumbled sideways and Zeus flew towards Percy and whacked him on the face with the bolt. Percy was turned around but in the same flow of motion he turned around again and roundhouse kicked Zeus on the face.

Then he walked to his sword and ran towards Zeus. He slashed at the god's abdomen but the attack got blocked. He then next pulled it up to Zeus' face, dragging the bolt along with it.

This became more of a bout of power in which Zeus was the obvious winner. Zeus' eyes widened and a blizzard came out of his eyes, trapping Percy in it.

All the gods had picked a demigod or two in their hands and taken them in the sky to save them from the electric shock. But what nobody had noticed was a second portal, circular in shape as well, which was dark and from which strange creatures were coming forth.

At least about 50 had come forth when they all charged towards the gods in the sky. The gods were surprised by this charge and all of them went outside the Throne Room, so that the demigods won't be hurt.

Creatures kept pouring out of the portal, going after the gods, some destroying the already destroyed infrastructure of Olympus, some going to attack Poseidon who was _trying _to stop the flow of water from the first hole, while some went to attack Zeus along with Percy.

A roar emanated from the hole but the battle in Olympus went on. Percy and Zeus were in a standstill and their weapons were locked in stalemate. The power emanating was so much that anybody could literally feel the waves roll of their skin.

Both applied a little more power and both weapons slipped from the grasp, falling into the chaos below. Both the fighters then resorted to fighting with their bare fists. Percy punched Zeus on the face but Zeus caught his hand and threw him higher toward the ceiling, then Zeus followed but was interrupted by a few creatures attacking and he became busy with them.

Meanwhile Percy was still flying higher towards the ceiling and he so Poseidon who was still trying to stop the water, but clearly failing to do so. Percy floated towards him and Poseidon saw him a little too late.

The son crashed into the father disrupting his concentration, resuming the water flow to its original speed. The monsters were unaffected by the water, it was Zeus who was facing serious problems.

Percy kept hitting Poseidon with attacking ferocity and it was all Poseidon could but block. Then Percy spit on Poseidon's face, surprising him. Immediately Percy took hold of his father's face and punched him in the throat.

Poseidon gagged but Percy kept punching and kicking him all over the body. This beat down continued for a few minutes, after which Poseidon was left bruised and bleeding. Then Percy went in for the final attack, but was stopped by a lightning bolt stabbing him through the heart, carrying him and getting stuck to the ceiling, trapping Percy along with it.

Zeus shouted, "Poseidon, NOW" as he was engulfed by yet another wave of attacking creatures. Poseidon stood straight and then channelled all his power into one final burst stopping the water and closing the portal.

But the closure was not without its price. This event sucked up some of Poseidon's life force, and he fell to the ground in a sub-conscious state, but with a small smile on his face.

Meanwhile Zeus kept fighting a losing battle with the battalion of creatures that kept attack him without mercy. As the drakons, automatons, gorgons, empousa, and creatures that Zeus had no idea about attacked him, he heard another loud roar come from the portal.

Two huge hands came out from the portal, holding its edges. The hands pushed the edges, expanding it to at least 30 times its size. Then a creature came out of the portal and its height was greater than Zeus' who stumbled back in amazement.

All the creatures stopped whatever they were doing and bowed to this creature. The creature had brown skin with golden armour, a sword sheathed at the waist and a bow and quiver hung at the back. A huge serpent was roaming around the neck of this entity that wore ancient style leather boots and had two leather straps running around his chest.

The entity then walked towards Zeus and said, in a really deep but clear voice, "Hello Zeus, wouldn't you welcome your uncle, after all, I am the brother of your father, aren't I?"

Zeus was gaping like a fish, and the entity continued, "I know that we have never been formally introduced and that ….. " A golden aura surrounded the creature and he changed in size and shape until he looked but a teenage boy of about 16 or 17 years old with handsome features and a lean, swimmer's body; wearing a scarf around his neck, a black jacket, white shoes, blue jeans and black shirt.

"Your father might have never mentioned me, but I am the original ruler of Olympus, the god of Titans before Kronos, I am the titan whose power equals that of Ouranos and the one who was betrayed and cast away in Tartarus for all eternity, my name is Ophion, and I have come back to take what is mine." Ophion ended his speech with a little smirk.

Zeus blinked and got angry. He grabbed the seemingly harmless boy by his throat and raised him above the ground. Ophion did not react at all. Instead he kept looking at Zeus with emotionless eyes and a minute smirk on his face.

Zeus then said, "I have, am and always will be the ruler of Olympus. You have no claims here, you impersonator. How dare you call yourself a titan, you are nothing but a pest who has ambitions way above his stature and ability."

"You call yourself the eternal king of Olympus but do not know its history? That is not surprising considering what I have heard about you. You are a king who creates injustice among the gods, feeding on it like a parasite and increasing your own strength and standing in the world, with no regards for the ones you trample in your path. You disgust me, Kronos pawn, but it is okay, every prey struggles a little before the predator finally finishes the hunt. It has been nice torturing you, making you squeal under my every whim and wish. It is thanks to you that I have been able to rise Zeus, all thanks to you."

Then Zeus' fingers uncurled themselves off Ophion's throat and he floated back gently to the ground. Zeus was forced to kneel on the ground and Ophion came close to Zeus, kicking him on the head, and making him fall to the ground.

Then Ophion said, "There are forces beyond your comprehension that exist in this world. I know of dark secrets that not many know about, secrets that endanger the very existence of us 'heavenly beings', and it is only fit for someone with prior experience and knowledge to rule Olympus in a just and free manner. Don't you think so, Zeus?"

* * *

><p><strong>Guys, Don't forget to review. I haven't been getting many and it saddens me very much. You can say anything good or bad, I don't care, just review.<br>Goodbye.**


	19. I'm Back

Hello everybody.

Was gone on a really long hiatus but that was because of various reasons I cannot discuss. All I can say is that I am going to start updating again and that the next update will come very soon.  
>And for all out there, very sorry to have made you wait that long. I'm just waiting for a new beta reader and so I need at least a week more but by 23rd, Chapter 19 should be up.<p>

Looking forward to posting


	20. Chapter 19

**Hello everyone, here it is again. Before though, I would like to introduce my new Beta-Reader, ChaoticVortex, who has done a beautiful job editing this chapter. Read on**

**Olympus**

BANG!BOOM!Explosions and loud noises were a thing of the background as the demigods ran away from the battle scene. Annabeth and Pamela were leading the little boys and girls towards the elevators from where they would flee Olympus and hide somewhere away from Manhattan. The gods were still busy holding off the army of the intruder, which was good since the attackers wouldn't notice the demigods.

Hera saw the demigods running and flashed herself to where they were. All the demigods stopped when they saw her. "Where are you children going?"

"Away", said Annabeth, with a harsh tone.

"I know of a place where there are more of your kind. You will be safe there for some time. Anywhere else and _that _monster will just find you." replied Hera.

"And why are you telling us this?"

"Believe it or not, I do need you demigods for my existence too. I don't have any demigods of my own and so I depend upon your knowledge of my existence to ensure that I do not fade." Annabeth was about to retort when Pamela interrupted her, "And where shall you be taking us?"

"That you will know when you reach there. For now, let's hurry." Hera glowed and all the demigods disappeared.

**Olympus – Throne Room**

Zeus was lying on the ground as Ophion paced around him in a leisurely manner. Zeus kept trying to get up and Ophion kept kicking him down while laughing all the time. "Ooh I forgot something."

Ophion looked and saw Percy stuck to the ceiling by some ropes, struggling to come down. Ophion waved his hand and the ropes disappeared. Percy fell but slowed down when he neared the ground. Then he got up and approached Ophion. Ophion gave him a pat on the head, "You did good work Percy. Good work. All of this is all thanks to you, and of course the foolishness of the gods, especially the one beneath my boots."

Zeus snarled in anger and made a last ditch attempt to attack the former king with his lightning bolt. Ophion just smirked and kicked Zeus on the face, "That might have hurt, had you not been completely spent and powerless. Your fights with Typhon, Hades and Percy here have drained you to the point where you cannot even handle a child. It's hilarious, the fall of the _greatest _god on Earth with a plan as simple as this. I'm surprised Athena didn't figure out who I was. I guess I really overestimated you all. In the end, it feels like it was all too simple."

Ophion then looked around and saw the various thrones. "In my day we had just two thrones, one for me and one for my ….. Well, I will be redecorating, and I just might use that new architect that you gods have. What was her name …. Oh yeah, Annabeth, the Athena spawn. I will use her for as long as I want, and when I am done, I will dispose of her, just like I did with all of you. Ha."

Ophion then walked up to Zeus' throne and touched the sidearm. Immediately, the throne started to change. It turned into a brownish red colour with a tint of black at the sides. Serpents were crawling up and down the throne while some of them were floating and some of them were just crushed into the throne. Ophion changed back to his original giant form and sat on the throne.

"Ah, this feels natural. Me sitting on the highest seat there is while all the others beneath me. In my time we had no need for disguises, since there was no one to be hidden from. You were the king of the world, and you kept yourself secluded in such places, not being able to do anything except fuck everything that came near a 1000 cubits, no restraint. But I am a better king. In my time, everything was peaceful, no need for violence. Everyone was happy. But then, of course, all of it was ruined. But that's in the past. What's important now is that I'm back. And I'm never letting this seat go."

He then looked up to the blasted throne room doors, behind which the fighting was still going on. "It should have been over by now. Guess, the gods are stronger than they look. Oh well, what a bother. Percy go check and fight the gods. They should be kneeling in front of me by the end of this fine day."

Percy immediately turned back and went out of the throne room. There he saw Apollo and Artemis firing at automatons while fending off attacks from dragons. Hermes was running around with the Hunkai, a species which was as fast as Hermes, if not more. Hestia was the one who was able to hold her own against the mosters, be the small Tinakros or the acrid-smelling Pythons (**not the legendary one**), Hestia kept them all at bay with her powers, burning them to ashes when they approached her.

The true irony was when Demeter was attacked by plant-like monsters. These monsters had roots for legs and branches for stems. Their body was a stem covered by more branches and leaves. Demeter tried to control the monsters, but they were from Tartarus, and Demeter's domain didn't extend till there. She kept shouting, "No, my plants my plants" as she was overrun.

Hebe was fighting with one particular monster called the Ecterno. Ecterno was one of the prime generals of Ophion. Both were using their swords and Ecterno clearly had the upper hand.

Then Percy attacked, and it all went downhill from there.

**Fields of Punishment**

Nico approached the edge of the abyss of Nyx while the Coeus was engaged in battle with Momus, and Geras was playing with Perses' and Moros' minds. Nico felt a strange attraction to the abyss and kept going on. He would have fallen had Tethys not pulled him back.

"What do you think you are doing? Do not fall into the abyss or you will never come out. It is very dangerous. Nyx is one of the most powerful entities in this world." Nico nodded and stepped back.

His master had told him what to do after this. He took out his sword of Tartarus and a small bottle out of his pocket. He then opened the bottle and let one drop of the fluid fall into the abyss.

"What is that?" asked Tethys. "That is the blood of a gorgon. Master told me to put in one drop to give Nyx enough power so that she can listen to my demands. But more than one drop and she would have enough to be able to gather her essence and escape her cage. Now step back, what will happen is very dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt."

Tethys did as told and then Nico stabbed his Tartarus sword into the ground. Immediately a loud voice spoke in Nico's mind, "Who dares disturb my slumber?"

"It is I, a simple servant of my master." "And who is this master of yours?"

"He is the one who ruled the world before he was betrayed by his brethren." Nyx was silent and then spoke, "What does your master want?"

Nico was surprised. He did not expect it to go this easily. "My master wants you to join his war against the unjust and unwanted rule of Zeus and the Olympians. If you agree, you will be let out of this cage immediately."

"You expect me to listen to the whims of your master?" Nyx roared. "I know you, Nico di Angelo. Son of Hades, servant of Ophion. It seems Acyls has done her work on you. Yet you seem to know nothing. You do not need my help Hades spawn. All the help you need is right with you. All you have to do is realize who is offering it."

Nico desperately asked, "Please, you have to agree. Otherwise my master will be very displeased. This is my one chance to make my mark. Please come with me."

Nyx's voice faded as she said, "You have been able to defeat my children in battle. I admire your courage and so give you this little gift. And remember, she is always with you. You just need to ask."

The link between them broke as Nico fell back, gasping. He turned his face away from Tethys so that she would not be able to see the streak of tears flowing from his eyes. He got up, pulled out his sword, and said to Tethys, "Let's end this and leave. Our work here is done."

Tethys nodded and then both of them rushed forward to help their allies. Nico ran to dislodge Geras and slashed at his back. Geras fell forward and blindly struck behind him but Nico skillfully deflected the strike and cut off his head. He then separated Perses and Moros and punched them both to break the spell.

Meanwhile, Tethys went and distracted Momus while Coeus took a breather. Tethys held back Momus until Nico arrived and finished him off just as easily.

Then he shouted, "Titans, our missions here is over. We now have to go to Olympus, where by now, Master must have captured Olympus and regained his throne and position as Lord and Ruler of the world. We must hurry."

All the titans gathered together and then Tethys waved her hand. There was a dark glow and they disappeared.

**Somewhere in San Francisco**

Hera appeared along with all the other demigods in a serene beautiful place, which looked like a garden with huge trees and grass greener than ever. Annabeth looked around and took a deep breath when one of the young female demigod came to her and said, "Look! Look! Something is happening to Aunt Hera."

Annabeth turned around to see Hera on her knees with her hands massaging her temple and her body flickering again and again. Pamela rushed to her aid when all of a sudden Hera pushed her away.

Annabeth stared and saw armour appearing and disappearing on her body again and again. "Get back all of you. Something is going to happen and we don't want to be harmed."

All of the demigods stepped back as Hera let out a loud scream and glowed brightly. When the glow dimmed, she stood up in full armour with a spear and a shield, with an expression that said that she was ready for war. She looked at the demigods and said, "Follow me _graceus_."

She started walking and the demigods followed her without a word, probably because they were too scared to utter anything. After walking for about 5 minutes, they stopped outside a massive city gate, where a marble bust of a regal looking man suddenly came to life.

"And who do we have here? It has been a long time hasn't it Juno?" said the statue, unaware of all that had taken place at Olympus.

Juno/Hera glared at the statue and said, "I don't have time for your insolence, border god. These demigods here need protection and they will get it here. I have urgent matters to attend to at Olympus. See to it that this is taken care of."

Then without another word, she glowed and left. The statue looked nervous, as if it had never seen an angry Juno. He then sighed and looked at the demigods. "And you are … _graceus_?"


	21. Chapter 20

**Wow, the review I got from doomsdarkrai was superbly amazing. Its the first time somebody has pointed out so many mistakes of mine, and in such a critical manner, it's quite nice. And I would very much like to thank him/her for that. It is also nice to know that he recognized the efforts of ChaoticVortex, the beta-reader for this story.**

**Having put that out there, here is chapter 20, so enjoy guys**

**Chapter 20**

**Olympus**

As soon as Percy had attacked, the gods had lost. Still they fought very bravely, even if having only delayed the inevitable. Neither god gave up nor did any try to run away. They all kept fighting to protect their home.

Percy immediately attacked the nearest person next to him, which happened to be Hebe. She was already fighting Ecterno, Ophion's prime general, who was wearing futuristic armour from head to toe which had a red body and black limbs and head.

But then Percy suddenly came from behind and slashed with Riptide at her waist. She got cut and fell forward and Ecterno stabbed her through the heart. Then Percy stabbed her through the back and Ecterno took out his sword and stabbed her through the stomach. Hebe coughed up a lot of blood, and couldn't do anything to stop the brutality.

All the other gods were also held back as she was butchered. Slowly but steadily, all the other gods were rounded up and bound with Celestial Bronze ropes as they had become too weak to fight or disheartened after seeing the attack on the newest Olympian.

All were brought in front of Ophion, who forced them to kneel in a line. "Such a beautiful sight. I have imagined this so many times in Tartarus. Realizing your own dream is such a thrill. However, enough talk. Now is the time to start doing things."

He then turned towards Ecterno, "Take all of the male goddesses except Apollo and throw them in the dungeons, bind them with celestial bronze rope till there is none left and then do whatever you want to do with them. Just don't make them fade. I have many plans for them."

Ecterno nodded and did as he was told. He signalled and some of the larger, slow giant like Zillas came to help. All the male gods were carried away along with the unconscious Poseidon and the angry Zeus who was kicking and screeching at Ophion.

Seeing the gods being led away, Athena said, "If you plan to rape us and make us your slaves, then you should know that we will never submit. We will keep fighting till out last breath."

Ophion titled his head and smiled, "You have a very vivid imagination. However, I have no such intention. What I do plan on doing, is to give you a choice. See …" Ophion got up and started to slowly pace in front of his own throne, "The gods were prideful fools who didn't realize the gems that you goddesses were. I plan to value you for what you are worth. This new era that I have bought in it, will have many more surprises, and I want you all to be a part of it. I am giving you the chance to be the new …. Ophionates."

The goddesses were flabbergasted. They had no idea how to react. Hera said, "We have our own pride too. We will not join the titan who soiled our home and made us kneel with no respect."

"Yet you disrespect me by calling me a titan. I am not a titan. I had transcended them long before they were ever born. You, can say, I was the last primordial. But then, the question arises, what is a primordial? It is indeed a very easy question. You all are obviously familiar with Gaea, well you can say that I am one of her extended family. But that's all I'm going to tell you now. I can assure you of one thing. I am not like Kronos. The kind of ruler I am, I will look out for the well bring for everybody. Even these humans, no matter how numerous they are."

Artemis sneered, "You will bring nothing but destruction to the human race. You are a parasite, living off of the lives of others because you by yourself are nothing."

Ophion just scoffed, "I barely came out of Tartarus and I immediately invaded and recaptured my home, which Kronos had stolen from me so long ago. But you are right, I will not be able to be a good ruler, since times have changed. I do not know much about humans, but that's where you come in. You will all help me come to terms with today's times, how these humans work now, what they like, dislike, etc. Understood?"

Hestia then questioned, "What do you want from us exactly?"

"Basically, I want you all to be a council of my advisors, helping me guide the humans to a new era. I cannot do it by myself, not without harming at least some of them in the process. I know you all don't want anything to happen to the humans, so I am asking you for help."

Athena then asked, "But then why is Apollo here? He is …. Not the help that you have in mind."

Ophion smirked, "You all are dismissed. You will be given until tomorrow morn to think things through and then give me an answer. Those who do not agree will be treated the same as the gods." Ophion then signalled and more of the Zillas came and respectfully led the goddesses out of there.

Then he turned towards Apollo. He had surprisingly been quiet the whole time, but that was only because he was half-conscious and seething in anger to even let it out on Ophion.

"I know you're angry. I can understand the pain, I have felt it myself. However, you see, I am strong enough to do something about it. And now that I have completed the first step of conquering the world, I want to conduct one small experiment before moving on to the second. You see, we have some friends in the East, of us Greeks I mean, and there is a story among them, that the snake and the sun are eternal enemies. And since, I am …. Well, you could call me the snake, and you being the sun, I thought we could test it out."

Apollo squinted in forethought, while Ophion stood smiling. This image was the same and the only thing that was changing was the smile on Ophion's face as it was narrowing. Five minutes later, "Ah, you want us to fight?"

Ophion was flabbergasted, "You realized that after all this time? Anyway, let's get on with it before anything else." He waved his hand and the bonds on Apollo disappeared. Apollo got up and stumbled around for a bit, but Ophion charged and punched him on the face.

Apollo flew back and crashed into the wall. He picked himself up, shook his face and cried, "Hey, what the hell, we have to fight now?"

"A fight can always begin, no matter what. You should always be on your guard. In the story, the snake attacked the sun while it was on its periodic round around the earth. I want to see if there really is any truth to that story."

Apollo glared at Ophion and then said, "Well, I cannot fight without my bow and arrow." "Not a problem." Ophion waved his hand and a bow and a set of quivers full of arrows appeared.

"Also, if you haven't noticed, I'm not in the best of my condition. I just fought an army." Ophion laughed. "And I just came back from Tartarus. See, that's the difference between you gods and the titans and me. You always have an excuse to prolong the inevitable. At least the titans had the balls to keep fighting no matter what situation they were in. But fine, we will meet after three days. Let's see if you can give me some competition. I do want to fight the god who was successful in defeating a snake."

Ophion signalled to one of the Hunkai and it dragged Apollo to the Olympian dungeons too. Then Ophion went and sat on his throne in deep thought.

**Atlantis**

Hades opened his eyes. He saw blue and realized where he was. In Poseidon's domain, under the sea. The physicians had all said that for total recovery, Hades had to go back to the underworld. But Hades wanted to wait for Poseidon, thank him for the help and then leave. He was in his train of thought when Triton entered the room, "Only a fool would stand in the middle of the room doing nothing."

Hades' eyes narrowed, "Who do you think you're calling a fool, _boy_?" Triton raised his hands, "You should come out of the underworld more often; in the human world, that's called a joke."

Hades just scoffed and turned away. "Anyways, I haven't heard from father for a while now. I'm a little worried. Could you please go to Olympus and check?"

Hades was puzzled, "Why don't you go yourselves?" Triton blushed, "Well, let's just say that certain incidents have made me very unpopular there. And I am not in the mood to see Athena."

Hades sighed, "Fine, but I'm going because I have work with him myself. Don't think of this as anything else." Triton bowed, "I wouldn't think of this as anything but a favour. Thank you very much."

Hades then glowed with a dark light and disappeared.

**Olympus – Throne Room**

Hades appeared and looked at the condition of the Throne Room. All the thrones were destroyed, there was rubble and water everywhere. He mumbled, "I know that this didn't happen because of Zeus and me. Maybe he finally got on Poseidon's nerves."

"If you want to pay homage to me, then I'm here." Hades turned to where the unknown voice came from.

He saw a man sitting on a red throne, where Zeus' throne used to be, with black outlines and serpents crawling all over it. The man was wearing black trousers, white shirt, black waistcoat and a black coat. A strange but familiar aura was around the man who was sitting without a care in the world.

Hades' eyes narrowed yet again, "Who are you? And what happened here? How dare you sit on the throne of the Olympians and make a mockery of us gods?"

Ophion titled his head sideways and smiled, "You come to my home, and you ask who I am? That is very shameful. You see, I am the King of Olympus, the rightful one. And I have taken back what was once mine. Of course, there are many loose ends to tie up, you being one for example, Hades."

Hades sneered, "You think of yourself as an equal to me? I am the god of the Underworld, the one who controls all that is not earthly. At my one command, hordes of my army will come and defeat you at once."

"Hades, you are a smart and wise god. Think, if I was that weak, would I be sitting here? My name is Ophion, the Ruler and King of the world. I am above everybody else, and I am giving you the chance to join me. Together, we can achieve what no one has been able to achieve. Total rule of the earth, no matter who they are, no matter which … place they come from."

Hades' scowl grew before he realized what Ophion was talking about. "You are insane. You harbour such thoughts, and you think of yourself as a king. You will rot in Tartarus, after I am done with you."

Ophion grinned as Hades put on his Helm of Darkness and rushed towards him. Hades disappeared in the shadows as he approached Ophion, and then appeared from before him. He then punched towards the lower back of the head of Ophion. Ophion dodged by jumping forward and buttoning his coat in the process. "Won't help me if my clothes flap around too much."

Hades then ran towards him, taking out a spear. Ophion smiled again, but then the look on his face changed to that of horror as he looked towards his right. Hades was surprised but he too looked towards his left. He saw nothing and he then looked towards his opponent … to see he wasn't there!

'Where the hell is that bastard' was his last thought as he was hit on the head by a huge blow from the hands of the king of Olympus. Hades crashed forward as Ophion rubbed his hands together. He then walked towards his throne as Hades got up, stumbling all the way. 'One punch and I was down just like that. Just how strong is this guy?'

Hades then created arrows out of shadows and threw them at Ophion. Unaware, he was struck by all of them and he stumbled forward. Hades laughed loudly, "You're nothing, just a fake. You couldn't defeat me even if you put all of your power together on my worst day."

"You're not worthy enough to face the full extent of my power. But I am going to punish you for attacking somebody behind his back. You gods really have no principles." Ophion then turned around and ran with lightning speed towards Hades. Before he could react, Hades was punched on the face numerous times as he flew back. But Ophion didn't stop. He kept hitting Hades in the air, on the face, the abdomen, even the knees. Hades fell on the floor with a hard _thud_.

"I had expected more from the eldest of the Big 3. But I am very disappointed. So far, Olympus has failed to give me an exciting match. It is very disappointed to know that out of all the gods, none is powerful enough to match up to me. I'm going to let you go. After all, you will never be powerful enough to face me. I will, however, take your helm. It interests me. I have made a hobby of collecting other such weapons, for e.g. the fabled Master Bolt and Poseidon's Trident."

Ophion then turned and walked towards his throne, leaving Hades to revel in his defeat and the fact that Olympus had finally been crushed and conquered by a threat far greater than any other. Hades crawled back to his feet and glowed slightly as he left. Ophion sighed loudly as he mumbled, "So many loose ends, so many."


	22. Chapter 21

**People, hope you like the story. Don't forget to R&R. Read on.**

**Chapter 21**

**Somewhere in San Francisco**

"Graceus?" asked Annabeth. The statue god replied, "I'm just kidding. I am Terminus, the God of Boundaries. Welcome to New Rome demigods. Come inside."

All the Greeks went inside and they were all amazed at the sight that was in front of them. Numerous people walking hand in hand, laughing, many of old age, some eating in cafes and other such restaurants. Annabeth then mumbled, "So many demigods?"

Terminus laughed, "No no, these are all descendants of demigods. After living a full life, any demigods who want to can stay here where there is ample of protection so they can live without fear till a ripe old age."

Annabeth was speechless. She was interrupted from here daydreaming when a girl of approximately her own age came up to her and said, "Welcome demigods. My name is Reyna and I am the praetor of this camp. I will now be giving you a small introduction of this camp after which another of the senior centurions will give you a tour and place you for the night."

All the Greeks didn't know what to think except – 'This is similar to Camp Half-Blood, but somewhat different too' and 'There are Roman demigods? What the hell is going on?'

Reyna then coughed and said, "It would be easier for me to help you if you all gave me your names."

Pamela immediately interrupted, "Roman demigods? You're kidding me? There are no such roman demigods. It's only Greek. Right Annabeth?"

Reyna at once glared towards Annabeth, "Greek? Who told you about Greek demigods?" Annabeth immediately stepped up, "What she meant was that in school, we have been taught about Greek Demigods. We had no idea there were demigods of Roman heritage too. We are only confused because this is all so new to us." Then she went on to introduce all of them.

Reyna then spoke, "Quite late for demigods of your age to be bought to the camp." All Annabeth could do was smile.

Reyna then started walking at a fast pace. "This here is the 12th legion of the Roman forces. We are all demigods, half Roman gods and half human. You all have god blood in you, and that god can be any one of many gods. Usually the gods are one of the Olympians, namely Jupiter, Neptune, Juno, Mars, Minerva, Apollo, Diana, Ceres, Bellona, Mercury, Vulcan, Venus, _Pluto, _etc. Of course, that is not always the case, however, there is no prejudice due to that. In this city, all demigods are equal whoever their birth god be, and the deeds of a demigod decide his/her status in the camp."

The Greeks were still amazed with all this new information. They then thought that this was a system far better than the one they had at their camp, where demigods could only live with their own brothers or sisters.

Reyna continued, "Tomorrow, you will all be assigned a cohort, with whom you will play the various war games that we hold to polish a demigods skills in battle. Any and all formations that are practised will be used in actual battle too."

Then Reyna met with another demigod on the way and talked to her in hushed tones. Then she said, "This is Dakota. He is the centurion of the fifth cohort. For now, he will be giving you a tour of the whole city and then you will be led to the barracks, where you will spend the night, and tomorrow, you will be chosen by the cohorts."

Reyna was about to leave when a women standing near the group suddenly shouted, "GRACEUS" and then ran away. Reyna immediately pointed at the woman and a few people ran behind her. Then she stared the group of Greek demigods and said, "Dakota, take them to the senate now."

Dakota, who was drinking Kool-Aid, immediately stands in attention and nods. He then herds the group towards a large building with very regal like features. Inside the building is a huge auditorium, with about a 100 chairs and a stage with 2 chairs on it. Dakota then leads them towards the stage, where he then says, "Stand in front of the stage, the praetors and the augur will come here and the senate will then convene."

In the span of five minutes, about 75 demigods entered the building and sat in the chairs. Then 3 people entered. In the trio was a 16 year old boy with blond hair and a gladius hanging off of his pants; Reyna, the girl who had given them the introduction to the camp and was the praetor; and another thin, skinny boy who, for some reason, was holding a stuffed giraffe and a knife in his hand.

The blond boy and Reyna went and sat on the two chairs on the stage while the skinny boy went and stood in front of the group of Greek demigods. He then began, "Soldiers and demigods. Today's meeting is a special one. It is to determine whether the new demigods here are _graceus_ or not, and if so, then what punishment shall be dealt to them."

Then the blond guy stood up, "I believe that even if they are _graceus_, they should be given a fair chance at being able to present themselves. Also, if they were _graceus_, then why would Juno be the one to bring them here? It is clear that these demigods are special, and that they are here for some reason. I have a report from Terminus, who says that Juno herself personally demanded the safety of these demigods. We cannot, under any circumstances, harm any demigods who arrive with the blessings of Juno."

Meanwhile Annabeth was drowned in her own thoughts – 'There were always two praetors in a roman city. If Reyna is the first one, then the blond boy must be the second. Though, who the skinny weird boy is, I have no idea. And this senate hearing will most likely

The blond boy then sat down and the skinny boy started, "We also have a report from a Lare that these demigods have a smell distinct from that of the roman demigods. These Lares are household deities, we cannot ignore their heeding like this. They have never been wrong before, why would they be now? It has clearly been mentioned by the gods themselves, that the _graceus_ are dangerous people. They are tricky and always up to no good."

Pamela immediately shouted, "Hey, mind your language. Greek demigods are the best. You phonies should know that, after all you came after us. You are the second unwanted ones. We are the originals." Annabeth face palmed herself.

The skinny boy smiled, "You are a feisty one aren't you? I must not have introduced myself earlier, my name is Octavian, and I'm the augur of this legion." Then he spoke to the whole gathering, "Her defiance and defence for the _graceus_ itself shows us that she herself is a _graceus_. We have to decide on a punishment for the _graceus_, otherwise ruin will be bought upon this legion too, and Rome will once again be bought down. I'm sure nobody wants a repeat of what just happened a few days ago. So many needles deaths. It is to prevent that that I speak I have nothing personal against these demigods. We are all no strangers to suffering. I'm pretty sure that the _graceus_ timed their arrival when we were at our weakest. They must be preparing their armies, making sure that we have no chance of retaliating as they come to us. We have to prove that we are strong, otherwise ….. "

He ended his monologue with a very heavy tone. The senate descended into silence. Every pondered on Octavian's words. Then the blond boy stood up and said, "If the gods are the ones who said that we should be vary of the Greeks, then why would Juno herself lead them to us? There would be some reason why she herself came here to guarantee their protection. We cannot just harm them without any further forethought." He sat down while glaring at Octavian.

Annabeth had guesses that there was some bad blood between the praetor and the augur, and the split was not due to the Greeks. Maybe it was because the augur was a jackass, or there was some other reason which she couldn't fathom. Reyna was obviously the senior praetor as she hadn't spoken but had an aura that put her in a very dangerous and scary position.

Then Jason got up and said, "We have two options here then. We can either immediately execute the _graceus_ and be done with them, or we can lock them up and wait for further word from the gods. This way we will be ensuring the safety of the demigods, and we can put them away so they cannot send any word back to their camp and we can bide time to gather more power and defeat the Greeks when the time comes."

Most of the senate was influenced heavily by the words of the blond boy, who seemed a natural leader and was easily swaying the people to his beliefs. Pamela was also liking the blond boy a lot, he was handsome and had a way with words that turned her on very much.

Pamela spoke up again, "What kind of a trial is this? We have not been given the chance to speak and defend ourselves at all. Is this how Roman law works? So unfair and …. And useless."

Reyna then got up and said, "The senate will now be put to a vote. As Praetor Jason said, we have two options. All the people who believe that we should opt for executing the _graceus_, please raise your hands."

About half the senate rose their hands. 'There must seriously have been some bad blood between the greeks and the romans that they hate us so much.' – thought Annabeth.

Octavian counted the hands along with Jason, who ran a cursory glance at the crowd and smiled when his gaze reached Annabeth. She smiled back, however, unaware to them both, Pamela caught this exchange.

"All those who opt for imprisoning the demigods, please raise your hands." The rest of the demigods rose their hands and once again the count began. Once it was over, Octavian said, "The vote is split right down the middle. In this case, we will have the praetors and myself vote." Octavian then went onto the stage and Reyna, "Those who opt for execution."

Octavian immediately raised his hands. Then Reyna said, "The other option." Jason raised his hands, and after a look sent to Reyna by him, she too raised her hand, thus completing the vote and barely saving the demigods.

Annabeth let out a loud sigh, but then she was taken hold of by two burly demigods, along with everybody else. She then shouted, "At least give the young ones a proper bed and home. You punish us elder ones but give them some respite. Their home was just destroyed, they can't bear any more pain."

Octavian's eyes narrowed, "And we should care because?"

Reyna then said, "Octavian back off. It's all right. All _graceus_ below the age of 10 will be given proper beds, food and clothing, while the rest will be thrown in the cells. That is it. Now go."

Jason went along with the Greeks who would be taken to the cells, them being Annabeth, Pamela, Quentin, son of Aphrodite, Peter, son of Hermes, and William, son of Ares. All of them were very nervous, not knowing what lay ahead of them. They were dazzled by the fact that they were not the only ones in the world, and that the Romans were an apparently more peaceful and successful camp.

They were led from the Senate building to the outside of the city, where Annabeth saw the temple dedicated to Poseidon. It was a small wooden shed, with a rusty iron trident stuck to the floor and water in a small tub in front of a dusty statue. Annabeth immediately thought of Percy, who would have gotten so depressed seeing their image.

Pamela snuck up to her and said, "This is all your fault. Had it not been for your horniness, we would still be in Olympus safe and sound." She then scoffed as she was dragged back to her own position.

They then approached the cells, which were basically a basement underground which led to a series of small rooms separated by iron bars. The romans threw the demigods into the cells and Jason then shooed them away, "Listen, I know there is some story behind all of this, some reason why Juno of all people bought you here. I do not know what it is, however I will try to find out. It will be next to impossible. Anything you tell will not be believed by anybody here, and I do not know what to make of all of this myself. Give me a few days, and then I will come and talk to you."

Annabeth smiled, "That is all I can ask for. It is so nice to have a friend among all of this, somebody who will just listen." Jason too smiled and then walked away.

**Olympus – Throne Room**

Nico and the other titans flashed into the throne room where Ophion was sitting on the throne in his suit. When he saw them, he smiled and said, "Good work Nico. I assume you were successful in obtaining Nyx's help?"

Nico bowed his head and said, "No master. I have failed you. I apologize." Ophion just smirked. 'It's alright. I kind of expected you to disappoint me. Anyways" he then turned towards the titans, "I have called you all here for a very special role. Out of you, I guess only Perses knows me. I want you all to be my council, nothing like the Olympians though. You will not be equal to me. I will be your king. Obviously though, you will have roles and duties in this new empire that I plan to establish. You will be given 1 day to think about the offer. Till then you can occupy one of the palaces here on Olympus. Anyone you want, it's your choice."

All the titans mumbled and talked among each other, when Moros spoke up loudly, "Who do you think you are? Ordering us titans around. You should stay in your limits, otherwise I will put you there."

He was about to charge at Ophion when Perses held him back, "You don't want to. Believe me, I know." Ophion grinned as Moros glared at him and then went back along with the other titans.

"Nico you stay here." called out Ophion. Nico, who had been frozen shut because of his master's statement, stood straight and looked down. Ophion sighed, "What am I going to do with you? You are so useless, never doing anything right. I give you so many opportunities, but you mess them all up. I should have given the job to Percy. He would have made sure to come back with her, with no problems. And what is this measly group of titans you have gathered. Except Perses, there is no one good here. Even your judgement is pathetic." Ophion then scoffed and turned.

"Get out of my sight. Your face angers me. And I don't want to ruin today. I'm going to sleep" Nico bowed and left the room, tears flowing out his eyes like the River Thames.

He kept running till he reached the palace of Hades. He was attracted by the black colour, so he went inside. He saw black everywhere, and he felt tremendously at peace. He kept standing in the palace when there was a sudden jolt in his mind – He was standing in a casino, younger than he was now, he was with a girl who was about 16, and who had black hair and a dress which reached up to her lower thighs. She was running and he was chasing her. He kept calling out a name, though he couldn't hear what the name was. He kept calling it out when something bought him out of the memory and back into the present – a man was lying on the couch nearby, but Nico hadn't seen him because even the man was wearing black. The groaned and Nico got near to him.

The man opened his eyes and Nico instantly knew who he was. Hades. Nico took out his sword and went on to attack him. Hades got up and pushed Nico back with a small energy blast. Nico fell back onto a lamp. He got up, only to see Hades look away with a sad expression on his face. Then Hades glowed a little and disappeared.

Nico felt very tired from all his recent fights and fell back on the floor, taking the rest he deserved after so much time.


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

_Ophion was standing on the balcony as he enjoyed the scenery. He had made sure that his subjects were all happy. The rebellion had also been easily quashed. Nobody would bother him, and he would rule happily with his wife for as long as he wanted. Maybe even have some kids._

_He grinned and commended himself on the marvellous job. He heard someone calling his name, "Ophy, Ophy"_

_Only one person in the world would call him so. He turned and smiled as he saw his beautiful wife Eurynome. He went and hugged her. She ran her hands through his hair as he did the same with hers. He smelled her, expecting to inhale the same scent. However, something was different. _

_He pulled back, "Something is different today. You smell … different." Eurynome scowled. She then shook her head and said, "Nothing, it's just that I am a little worried. You know, you might have put an end to the rebellion, but I still think it was a mistake to let Kronos be. He isn't the type to just sit and do nothing. He will come back for redemption."_

_Ophion scoffed, "You and me both know that I am tenfold powerful to him. He couldn't touch a hair on my body even if I let him. There's nothing to be worried about."_

_Eurynome just nodded sadly, "If you say so." Ophion tilted his head, then turned to look at the scenery. "You should enjoy what I have achieved. It will be a long era of peace. We will live for all eternity, be happy and nobody will come between us. I also think we should finally have a child. Maybe it's time."_

_He kept looking at the sky. He especially liked the birds. Though there was something strange. A bird was coming from far away. But the size of the bird wasn't increasing. It was just that … a distant small object. He squinted his eyes, but the bird wasn't coming closer. He then looked down, at the titans and nymphs and other beings, but they were all also frozen. Even the waves of the ocean were frozen. He was surprised, but then everything became clear to him. He was about to turn around, when he felt a small but sharp pain in the centre of his lower back._

_His muscles convulsed, and he managed to turn back only to see Kronos standing there, with his long gleaming smile and sharp canine teeth. A familiar weapon was stuck in his back, the scythe. Ophion tried to pull out the primordial-killer, but Kronos immediately held him by the throat._

"_I'm weak? You're tenfold powerful than me? This is all a joke. It was too easy. I was always Gaea's choice. I was the one who defeated Ouranos. You just came along and stole the throne. But now, the rightful king has come back to take what is his."_

_Then Kronos left Ophion, who gasped for breath. Kronos smirked, before pushing Ophion of the balcony and into the air. Ophion kept falling, kept falling until he reached the sea, which was directly beneath Mt. Olympus._

_He was about to reach the surface, when he heard the waves of the ocean crash into the shore.  
><em>Then he woke up.

Ophion was drenched in sweat. He sat up and looked around for water, or some liquid. He then got off his bed, and went to the balcony. He had never had nightmares in Tartarus. This was something new to him. He didn't know how to react in this situation. It was nearing dawn, the time was nearing when he would form his new council.

He had to make sure that all the titans would come under him, because any sign of disobedience would further ignite a rebellious streak in all the others.

He went into the Throne Room. It was still a mess. Except his own, all the other thrones were broken. But that would soon be fixed. All the ocean water had been cleared though. He yelled Ecterno's name, and soon enough the prime general came. He was still in armour, as if he had never gone to sleep. Ophion then said, "Bring in the titans. The time has come. They have to choose now."

Ecterno nodded and walked out. He came back 5 minutes later, heading a group of Zillas, who were surrounding all the titans. Ophion was sitting on his throne, in all his royal armour. But still in his human-size.

He smiled and said, "I hope you have made up your mind by now. However, before you tell me of your decision, let me tell you that anyone who doesn't join my side will be thrown into Tartarus. Now, please tell me your decision."

Perses immediately stepped up, "You know me Ophion. I always make the right choices. I am with you."

Ophion smiled and said, "Very good. Then you can approach a throne of your choosing, and make it yours."

Perses smiled and then neared Poseidon's throne, the one very next to Ophion's. He touched the throne, and immediately the throne changed. It repaired itself, though it was smaller than Ophion's. It turned a blood red colour, with mini-explosions happening everywhere on it, the throne breaking and cracking and repairing itself at some point or the other.

Perses grinned stupidly then calmly sat on the throne. Ophion then turned to the other titans, and said, "Now, who's next?" One by one, all the titans agreed, until Moros. He also said, albeit in a strained voice, "I will join you."

Ophion then laughed and said, "Great, which throne do you want?" Moros went up to Ophion and said, "This one." Ophion's smile immediately disappeared.

Hs eyes narrowed, "I have no time for jokes Moros. I will not entertain any of your silly notions. Go choose a throne." Moros then smiled, "I just did."

Ophion's anger knew no bounds as he punched Moros. This had added to the anger he had been feeling since the nightmare he had had last night. He kicked him on the face, then grabbed his face and smashed it into the floor. He then held it up, and made it face the king's throne. "You want it don't you? Well's let see if you can get it."

He then picked him up and threw it him at the throne. Moros crashed against it and fell. All the other titans were sitting uncomfortably as they saw the beating proceed. They knew that if they interfered, they might face misdirected anger. Ophion kept on punching and kicking Moros till there was a pool of ichor flowing in every direction.

Ophion then took a few deep breaths and said, "This is enough. Put him in with the other gods." A few Zillas came out of the shadows and dragged Moros to the dungeons. Ophion once again sat on his throne and said, "Let's all forget that scene and celebrate the beginning of a new era. However, there is no time to waste. Let me inform all of you. I am not like Kronos or Zeus. I am a just and fair king. I will have you as my advisors, however I still am the king, and there will be no votes or anything like that. What I say is final. But that is not to say that I will not take your advice under consideration. Also, along with Ecterno, you all are now generals of my army. If there is any war, then you will all ride into battle along with him. Now for the first order, I have an idea, and I want to discuss it with you all."

The council didn't know what to say as Ophion continued, "I want to get to know the humans better. I want to understand them so that I can rule them properly. Thus, I plan on adapting their form and mixing in with the human world. What do you all think?"

Momus immediately replied, "Humans are worthless. They have no importance. You do not need to understand them to rule them."

Ophion shook his head, "No, they are important. Us primordials and titans might not have to rely on them to maintain our existence. We all might have done it through sheer willpower, however, if we make them aware of our existence, then we will become infinitely stronger."

Tethys' eyebrows rose as she said, "You want to make them aware of us? That is utter foolishness. If we make them aware of us, then … well, it might just be catastrophic."

Perses replied, "I don't know. It has never been done before. I do not know what the harmful effects are. For all we know, it might be very beneficial for us to reveal ourselves. The gods never tried it for god-knows-what reason" **(geddit?)**.

"I plan on changing the very type of lives that we lead. I do want to learn how the humans live, what they like and dislike. That is why I must go down, to maybe adapt to the world as it is. It just might help us lead better lives."

Ophion was seemingly very determined in getting his wish. All the other titans were also sensing this, and so they did not disagree. One by one, they all gave their consent, making Ophion grin stupidly.

"Then, the next order of business. I plan to induct some of the goddesses into this council. I know that you all hate the gods, however, you have to put that hatred aside. Now, I will take in every goddess, even if they say yes. I really want Hestia, Athena, and Artemis. I do not much care about Aphrodite and Demeter and I absolutely do not want Hera. You all have to somehow help me convince Hestia, Athena and Artemis to join the council." said Ophion.

Tethys then replied, "It will be tough having the goddesses you want. They have the most pride, and they will want to be against you, the one who took Olympus from them. Add to that the fact that they also have hatred for us."

Ophion then queried, "How about a threat of death?" Perses answered this one, "Won't work. Just might incite them further to rebel against you."

Just then, Ecterno entered the throne room, "My lord, we found Ares in the Olympian infirmary."

"Interesting. I thought they would have already made the choice of destroying him. But they chose the painful and useless way. Just another example of how ball-less the gods are." said Ophion, with a small laugh. "Well, throw him in Tartarus. I have no use for someone with a broken back."

Ecterno nodded and headed back out, but Ophion stopped him, "Before you go, bring all the goddesses in here. It's time for the decision."

Ecterno headed out and Ophion sank a little deeper into the throne. A few moments later, the goddesses entered the Throne Room in shackles. Ophion sat up straight and then said, "Welcome my goddesses. It's an absolute delight to have you all here. Now please, choose as soon as possible. After all, time is of the essence."

Aphrodite came up and said, "It will be an honour to join you." Ophion grinned, "Splendid. What about you Athena?"

Athena grinded her teeth, then said, "It … would be … great if I had the pleasure of … being with you." Ophion smirked at that one, realizing that she had to overcome her pride in doing so.

Both Hestia and Demeter also agreed readily. Then came Artemis. "So what will you choose Arty? Many of your brethren have chosen to side with me. They made the wise choice. Hopefully, you do the same."

Artemis grinned, then spit it the king. "It's because of males like you that the world suffers. I will never side with the likes of you."

"I'm sorry?" Ophion was actually surprised at the outright refusal.

"You heard me. Did you actually think that by defeating us, you had conquered us all? In our hearts, you are still the invader. You can never be the true king of Olympus."

"Not this again. How many times do I have to explain? I am the first king of Olympus. It was all stolen away from me. I'm only taking what was and should be mine." said Ophion with a sigh.

"Do you know one of the few advantages of being the hunter goddess? I can get out of almost any trap." Said Artemis with a grin.

"So …?" Ophion then realized what she was talking about and immediately got up. In that time, Artemis shook of her shackles, pulled out her bow and quiver from thin air and shot at Ophion. Ophion easily caught the arrow and snapped it in half with one hand. This angered Artemis a lot and she was about to start a barrage … when she realized that she didn't have either her bow or arrow in her hands.

She reached back to touch her quiver to find out that that wasn't their either. She looked around, only to find out that Ophion was sitting on his throne, with all her weapons lying at the bottom of his feet.

"I'll give you this last chance before I obliterate all the Olympians from existence. And if you do not believe me, remember what happened to Ares. He has a broken back. As a god, he is useless to me. However, if you don't submit to me, I will throw him in Tartarus. And that will be the end of him. Believe me, I know." Ophion said, with an acidic tone.

"But before you make a choice, let me make an example. Take Hera here, she is someone who I have no care for. I do want you on the council. However … "

Ophion got up with an arrow from Artemis' quiver, and strolled towards Hera, who was struggling to get out of her shackles. "If you do not join me … "Ophion stabbed her on the forehead.

"I will do this to you and every Olympian there is. And don't forget, I still have the gods as hostages. I am giving you the change to save the ones you can save, the humans. It's better than not being able to save any of them." Ophion had a sad expression on his face as he continued, "I am not happy doing this, but I have to. The first rule of kingship is that you must make everybody follow you, even if you grasp the role of a leader by fear."

Artemis was mortified. 'This man really has no remorse'. "I will … join you"

Ophion smiled, "That's great. And that ends today's council session. I have discussed an issue with the council, so all the new members can ask what it was about. I will be heading out. I have some work to do."

Ophion then simply walked out, leaving a half dead Hera on the floor, with all the gods clueless as to what would happen to them in the future.

**Somewhere in Manhattan**

Amanda walked into the bar as she had for the past year. She kept all her belongings into the locker as she changed her clothes, wearing black trousers, a white shirt and a waist-coat. Then she headed out and high-fived Taylor, the bartender who was just about to end her shift.

Amanda approached the glasses when Taylor tapped her shoulder, "Hey look there. A hot guy walked in about half an hour ago. Just look at him, he's just so hot, if the bar was empty, I would do him. And I'm a lesbian. Maybe you can finally meet a guy, and move on. After all … you need it."

Amanda just nodded and looked at the guy being referred to. He really was hot, but he was looking very … disinterested. Like the world around him was boring him, with nothing to do. Amanda walked up to him, "Sir, your glass is empty. Do you want a refill?"

The guy just looked at her, then pushed his glass forward, "Sure, it's not like there is much more to do than drink in this world."

Amanda was surprised at the guy's tone. It's like he was genuinely disappointed in the whole world, or as if the whole world had done him some wrong.

"Is everything ok sir?" "Everything's fine. It's just that …" The guy looked up to her, "I expected more out of the world. After all, it has been so much time. But it's a huge disappointment. Everybody is interested in materialistic gains, nobody wants to attain true happiness, one which cannot be obtained unless a person really gets to know another person. You know what, maybe I'm really boring you, so I'll give you benefit of the doubt and just shut myself up. Please give me the drink."

Amanda immediately gave him the drink, then turned around and thought to herself – 'This guy is something else. He … just has this aura. I like him.'

She then faced him and asked, "Sir, if you don't mind, would you tell me your name?" The guy was surprised, but Amanda went on, "It's just that, well … I like the way you think. Even I have been disappointed by the world a lot. And I think that people just are not interested in others at all these days. They only care about themselves."

The guy grinned stupidly and said in a cheery voice, "I like you. My name is Oph … Peter. And what is yours?"


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Annabeth was tired. She got up and looked around. She was getting used to the view. What she couldn't get used to was Pamela's bitching. She kept complaining all day long. Once Annabeth had gotten so pissed off that she punched her on the face, knocking her out immediately.

Jason had come back a few times, bringing food and water, sometimes comforting them, giving Annabeth the companionship that she needed. It might only have been 2 days, but it felt like a century. There was nothing to do, so Annabeth's mind ran wild, wondering what had happened at Olympus, how the gods were faring, how Percy was faring.

She was almost always drained in that train of thought, as she was now, when she heard a metallic _tang_, and turned to see a huge boy opening the gate. The boy had a tablet hung onto his neck with a thread, with something strange on written on it. 'If only I could read Latin.'

The boy then said, "Reyna wants to see you." Pamela jumped up, "Well it's about time." The boy put his hand forward, "She only wants to see the daughter of Athena."

Pamela was livid, "WHAT? WHY ONLY HER? WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT HER, HUH? EVEN WE HAVE SUFFERED!"

She kept shouting, while Annabeth walked out. Then the boy locked the cell and they came out of the building. There, she found another girl waiting, with black hair and black clothes, reminding her of a certain son of Hades.

"Hi, my name is Hazel and he is Frank. We are to escort you to the Praetor's quarters, for questioning." The girl was sweet, though Annabeth could sense that there was something odd about her.

They all started walking, while Annabeth asked a question herself, "Do you mind if I ask you a question? Why is everybody so formal around here? It's like you're always waiting for a fight or a battle or something. I've never seen any one of you relax."

The boy kept shut while the girl spoke, "We Romans believe in discipline and order. We do not like discord, as it gives birth to chaos, which is very unpredictable. And as to why we don't relax" … the girl took a short pause, "There was an event, a few days ago, and we suffered many losses. We don't want anything like that to happen, so we are striving to always be ready for anything. But, we never expected Juno to show up with you all."

By the time the girl had completed, they had reached the building. It wasn't a very extravagant building, something less than what she had expected from a Praetor's quarters. But it sure as hell was sturdy and more powerfully built then their cabins at the camp back home.

They all went in to find a room furnished with a table, two chairs, a cupboard filled to the brim with files and folders, and … that was about it.

On the chairs Reyna was sitting, along with Jason, the second Praetor. Both of them were wearing purple togas, and seemed to be in an argument, but both quieted down when the trio entered the room.

Reyna just said, "Sit down Annabeth. You can leave Frank, Hazel. Thank you." The two just nodded and then left. "Now, I wouldn't beat around the bush. During the senate hearing, you mentioned that you all had your home destroyed. It caught our attention, and we would like to know what happened."

Annabeth's lips tightened together as she relived the memories in her mind. Then she nodded and said, "It's a long story. Very long. And it will take a long time for me to explain it to you. Since, you know, it's all Greek."

Jason bought forward another chair hidden beneath the table, and motioned for her to sit. Then he himself sat down and Annabeth began.

**Olympus – Throne Room**

"I guess it's time now. So are you ready?" Ophion grinned at the sun god standing in front of him. Apollo had all his godly weapons and was stretching. He was simply biding time. Anything to delay the fight. 'I guess I can't do anything else. It's time. What the hell, I might even defeat him and save Olympus, huh?'

Apollo gathered his weapons and then said, "Yeah ready." Ophion grinned and then said, "Great. But I'm afraid I have some news for you. I want to see if you are worthy of fighting me or not. So before fighting me, you will fight Percy. And if you can defeat him, you have the right to face me."

"You say 'right' as if I want to fight you. You force me and then make an extravagant affair out of it. It's not funny." Apollo said with a frown.

"Extravagant affair? Why would you think that?"

"Well what do you call gathering your whole 'council' in one place for this fight?"

"This is all to prove a point. A point that will get across after this fight is complete. It is to prove that the Olympians are beneath me, no matter which one they choose. I already beat Zeus and Hades and practically the whole of Olympus. I'm untouchable right now. What you're getting is an opportunity, a chance to fight me. You have to prove that you're worthy of fighting me." Ophion said, while grinning the whole time.

"You are just trying to insult me in front of everybody else." Apollo had a deep frown etched on his face.

"Just fight, what's the problem huh? You might even get the warm up you need. After all, for an Olympian, Percy is just fodder, right?" Apollo knew that Ophion had him. If he refused, he would shame not only himself, but every other Olympian, especially the goddesses present in the throne room.

His anger was bubbling from the inside as he said, "Yes, I'll fight him."

Ophion laughed loudly and shouted, "Yes, very good. Percy come here."

Percy came from behind the throne and stood like a statue. Ophion then said, "Fight Apollo. Try not to break him like Ares, but then again, do what you want."

Apollo readied his bow and took out his arrows. He started firing them at the speed of sound, each them making a sonic boom as soon as they left the string. Percy had riptide in his hand, as he deflected most of them. Some of them struck him and broke, he did have the curse of Achilles' on him.

Percy kept edging closer and closer, all the while facing the onslaught of the barrage of arrows. As soon as he was close enough. He jumped and threw his sword at Apollo's face. Apollo ducked and took out a broadsword of his own.

They might not have had equal skill, but their various strengths in other areas made up for them being at a stalemate. Apollo knew that to beat Percy, cleverness, not strength and agility would be better. He jumped back and took out his harp.

Percy came running at him and was about to attack him when Apollo started playing the instrument. Percy immediately fell down and started convulsing. Apollo only played for a few moments, and by the time he stopped, Percy was not moving at all.

Apollo stood up straight. Ophion was annoyed. He had expected Percy to destroy Apollo, but apparently the sun god was well-versed in magic. 'Well, not a problem, it's not like the harp can affect me.'

But what ticked him off most was the slight grins and smiles the goddesses were trying to hide from him. He couldn't take any more of that.

Apollo looked straight at the king of Olympus and said, "There, I beat your pretty little bastard. Now step down and fight me."

Ophion grinned and said, "Fine." Then he disappeared. Apollo was astounded. He couldn't believe that a titan could just disappear from in front of his eyes.

He felt a sharp pain in his back, and looked down to see a hand coming out of his stomach. The hand twisted a little and then went out the way it had come. Apollo's vision darkened and he saw the ground rushing up to him. Just then, half the world darkened a little, as the light of the sun dimmed.

Ophion stood gloriously over the god. He then opened his mouth. It kept getting wider, and wider, and wider, until it was big enough to have a refrigerator fit in it. His nose flattened a little and slight lines appeared on his face, which looked eerily like scales. Then he closed his teeth around Apollo's body, and threw him in the air, gulping him down as he fell. He then licked his lips, and took a few steps towards the throne, when suddenly he started burning up. A white fire engulfed him, as he started laughing and screeching. The sun brightened up by almost ten times, but then it all went to normal as is nothing had happened at all.

Ophion, "Well that was a very fulfilling meal." He looked at the body of Percy, then waved his hand, making it disappear. He then looked toward Athena and said, "Another bargaining chip in my hand. One more god you couldn't save."

All in the throne room could see that his hair had numerous golden – yellow streaks in his hair. He glowed red as he left, leaving the council to wonder as to what was in store for them.

**Manhattan**

"Hey again." Amanda looked around to see Peter sitting, with a smile on his face.

"Hello to you too, sir. What would you like today?"

"Oh, drop the sir. Just call me Peter. And I would like something new, surprise me." Amanda smiled and set about to make a Between the Sheets.

She gave it to him and said, "Here's something new. Please tell if it's any good." Peter took the glass and took a sip. He immediately shook his head fiercely and said, "That's … certainly new. But it is delicious."

Amanda blushed, "Thank You." As she looked at the man sitting in front of him, she noticed something different. There was a certain glow to him, as if he was emanating some kind of light. His hair too was different, it had streaks of yellow in it.

" ….. Hello, anybody home?" Amanda was brought out of her dreaming as Peter waved his hand in front of her face.

"Beg your pardon?" "I asked, what's the name of the drink?"

"Oh, it's a Between the Sheets." "A between the sheets huh? Is that supposed to be some kind of signal?" said Peter, with a twinkle in his eye.

Amanda blushed and said, "Oh Peter, it's just a drink. Nothing else." Peter tilted his head, then said, "Amanda, would you like to go out with me?"

Amanda was shocked. This came out of nowhere. She didn't even know the man. But … she did feel a strange attraction towards him. However, her brain was still reluctant. "Are you sure? I mean, this is the second time we are meeting. You don't even know my name."

Peter shrugged, "Sure I do, it's Amanda."

Amanda was surprised. She didn't remember telling him her name. But then again, it might have slipped out in conversation. She took a deep breath and then sad, "Sure why not? What's the worst that could happen?"

"When does your shift get over?" Amanda's eyebrows rose, "You want to go now?"

"Why not? Why delay it all? Tell me, when does your shift get over?" "Ah, in about half an hour."

Peter slurped the drink in one gulp, then said, "Great, how about you make me another drink till then?"

**Olympian Dungeon – Entrance**

Zillas and Hunkai were guarding the cells the Olympians were thrown in. Hades peered at the ancient monsters from the shadows, making sure that he would not be revealed. He had rested, making sure that the fatigue from the last two days was gone. Things had surely progressed fast, what with the invasion and all.

The god of the underworld knew that to defeat Ophion the Olympians would have to be freed. But Hades would make sure that first he would ask for something in return. He crept in the shadows, jumping from to the other. He might have been one of the Big 3, but even he knew that these monsters were not be messed with.

He reached in front of the first cell to see Poseidon sprawled on the floor with fires burning all around him. Hades was shocked to see Poseidon's appearance. The normally happy go lucky god with bulging muscles was about half the size he used to be with a harried expression on his face.  
>'So the cells are specially modified to have the opposite of their domain. The fire will remove any moisture from the cell, preventing Poseidon from doing anything.'<p>

Hades moved on, seeing Hephaestus in the next cell, sitting, doing nothing but watching the ceiling. 'He must be in some sort of mind control. Ophion may be a bastard, but he has derived the perfect traps for the Olympians.'

Hades kept moving, seeing all the other male Olympians being tortured by some kind of method, tailored fit to keep them immobile. Hades grinded his teeth in anger as he realized that he would not be able to extract the gods from their prisons, not now at least. He would have to wait for an opportunity. Some other time, when Ophion was not here.

But Ophion was not the only threat, was he? Hades had heard that Ophion had inducted various titans into a new council, even taking in all the female Olympians.

Hades then shadow-travelled to Aeolia, the abode of Aeolus, the master of the four great winds and the wind god. He appeared right in front of the god's throne, appearing out of its shadow. Aeolus jumped at the Hades' sudden appearance.

"Lord Hades, you're … you're still here? I heard Olympus had been invaded. You escaped?" Aeolus, asked, obviously flabbergasted.

"I was never in Olympus to begin with. However, what you have heard is true. Olympus has been invaded and now an intruder sits on the throne, claiming to be king. I come here to start the mobilization of an army, one which is big and strong enough to take him down."

"But why come here first? You have an unparalleled army of the dead, one which has hundreds of thousands of troops, including the heroes of the past." asked Aeolus, with burning curiosity.

"Do not question me Aeolus. My army would not be enough. The intruder's army is huge, and comes from parts of Tartarus unknown, even to me. To root this intruder out of Olympus, we have to get together every faction of the Greeks, be they Amazonians, nature spirits, hunters, furies, and the dead, all of them. Their strength has to be combined to defeat this foe." said Hades, angry with Aeolus' consistent questioning.

"Fine. But where will you go next?" Aeolus began with the questioning again.

"I have an idea. It is dangerous, and can possibly result in the extinction of the Greeks, but it is something that has to be done. Meanwhile, you assemble all the other wind gods, and any other god you can find, all of them. Gather them all, and then we will converse." said Hades, before he shadow travelled away.

**Guys, dont forget to R&R**


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